Sensitivity to “Shock” and Molecular Structure

Abstract

The study of the properties of explosives in relation to their structure assumes several aspects; one of these consists of the examination of explosive decomposition at the level of the molecule. The first process of this kind was proposed by Van’t Hoff [1] at the end of the last century. Observing that it was the nitration of certain compounds which conferred explosive properties on obtained derivatives, properties moreover which were all the more pronounced because the density in NO₂ groups was high, he stated: “It is atomic bonds of a specific nature which generate the explosive character.”