• Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    No, they’re a combustion event. An actual explosion (detonation, pre ignition) is really bad news for an engine.

    Firearms use a self oxidising propellant, so it would be quite easy to say that just doesn’t work.

    • Err(()).unwrap()@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What, pray tell, do you think is in gunpowder? It’s not magic dust that goes bang. It’s a pre-mixed, pre-compressed mixture of fuel and oxidiser. When used in a gun, whether it’s a muzzle-loader or a cartridge, the confined combustion of the mixture generates thermal energy and expanding gases that impart kinetic energy on a moving component (the piston or a projectile). The only difference is that the combustion event in an ICE is subsonic (deflagration) while the combustion in a gun is supersonic (detonation).

      • Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The only difference is that the combustion event in an ICE is subsonic (deflagration) while the combustion in a gun is supersonic (detonation).

        So what you’re saying is there’s a fundamental difference between the two?

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        @Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works is correct.

        I should’ve done my homework before going all “well akshullay 🤓” on them (sorry!).

        The only similarities between the two is that they both are chemical reactions that produce a rapid release of energy. But past that, they are much different in how they get to that point.