<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Message: 1<br>Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2018 05:08:34 -0000<br>From: <a href="mailto:billn@peak.org" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="13">billn@peak.org</a><br>To: "Stagecraft Mailing List" <<a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="14">stagecraft@theatrical.net</a>><br>Subject: Re: [SML] SML Fireworks Basics<br>Message-ID:<br> <<a href="mailto:c20494c05657ea0ca9a94b9983ec8201.squirrel@webmail.peak.org" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="15">c20494c05657ea0ca9a94b9983ec8201.squirrel@webmail.peak.org</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1<br><br></span><blockquote type="cite"><font color="#000000"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dave Vick is correct. Gunpowder, whether black powder, modern smokeless or<br></span></font></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><font color="#000000"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pyrodex, does not explode. They just ???burn??? exceedingly fast.<br></span></font></blockquote><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br>Yes and no. Any over-pressurized vessel can explode, regardless of what causes<br>that over-pressure.<br><br>But you are correct that black powder and most versions of smokeless powder do<br>not detonate - although they can burn (deflagrate) very rapidly when confined.<br><br>The inventor of Pyrodex was killed in an explosion at his Pyrodex factory. I<br>never saw an official report on whether it was a self-confining explosion or<br>even a detonation.<br><br>Some fast burning smokeless powders, such as Bullseye (tm) are reported to<br>detonate under the right conditions.<br><br>Bill<br><br></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></div><div><br></div><br><br><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Michael Powers</span><div>USMC '65-'69<br><div>ETCP Rigger #820 (Ret'd)</div></div></div></body></html>