@MontereyJack,
Why do you so despise science, MJ?
Quote:Blahblsh blah molten steel.
https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_apc.pdf
Quote:Yadayadayada nanothermite
NANOSCALE CHEMISTRY YIELDS BETTER EXPLOSIVES
One thousand years ago, black powder was prepared by
grinding saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur together into a
coarse powder using a mortar and pestle. Since then, the
equipment for making energetic materials—explosives,
propellants, and pyrotechnics—has evolved considerably, but
the basic process for making these materials has remained the
same. That, however, is changing, thanks to an explosive
combination of sol-gel chemistry and modern-day energetic
materials research.
At Livermore Laboratory, sol-gel chemistry—the same
process used to make aerogels or “frozen smoke” (see S&TR,
November/December 1995)—has been the key to creating
energetic materials with improved, exceptional, or entirely
new properties. This energetic materials breakthrough was
engineered by Randy Simpson, director of the Energetic
Materials Center; synthetic chemists Tom Tillotson, Alex
Gash, and Joe Satcher; and physicist Lawrence Hrubesh.
These new materials have structures that can be controlled
on the nanometer (billionth-of-a-meter) scale. Simpson
explains, “In general, the smaller the size of the materials
being combined, the better the properties of energetic
materials. Since these ‘nanostructures’ are formed with
particles on the nanometer scale, the performance can be
improved over materials with particles the size of grains of
sand or of powdered sugar. In addition, these
‘nanocomposite’ materials can be easier and much safer to
make than those made with traditional methods.”
