Topic summary
High Explosives
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Explosive.
High
High explosives (HE, or high-order explosives) are explosive materials that detonate, meaning that the explosion is propagated by an explosiveshock front that passes through the material at supersonic speed. High explosives detonate with an explosive velocity of about 3–9 kilometres per second (9,800–29,500 ft/s). For instance, TNT has a detonation (burn) rate of approximately 6.9 km/s (Mach 20; 4.3 mi/s), detonating cord of 6.7 km/s (Mach 20; 4.2 mi/s), and C-4 about 8.0 km/s (Mach 24; 5.0 mi/s).