23 Facts About TNT

TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties.

The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts.

TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye.

TNT can be safely poured when liquid into shell cases, and is so insensitive that it was exempted from the UK's Explosives Act 1875 and was not considered an explosive for the purposes of manufacture and storage.

TNT-filled armour-piercing shells would explode after they had penetrated the armour of British capital ships, whereas the British Lyddite-filled shells tended to explode upon striking armour, thus expending much of their energy outside the ship.

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High-explosive shells were filled with grade A TNT, which became preferred for other uses as industrial chemical capacity became available for removing xylene and similar hydrocarbons from the toluene feedstock and other nitrotoluene isomer byproducts from the nitrating reactions.

TNT is one of the most commonly used explosives for military, industrial, and mining applications.

TNT has been used in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing, a process used to recover oil and gas from shale formations.

TNT is valued partly because of its insensitivity to shock and friction, with reduced risk of accidental detonation compared to more sensitive explosives such as nitroglycerin.

TNT neither absorbs nor dissolves in water, which allows it to be used effectively in wet environments.

TNT can be detonated with a high velocity initiator or by efficient concussion.

For many years, TNT used to be the reference point for the Figure of Insensitivity.

Various methods can be used to detect TNT, including optical and electrochemical sensors and explosive-sniffing dogs.

TNT is poisonous, and skin contact can cause skin irritation, causing the skin to turn a bright yellow-orange color.

TNT is listed as a possible human carcinogen, with carcinogenic effects demonstrated in animal experiments with rats, although effects upon humans so far amount to none .

Consumption of TNT produces red urine through the presence of breakdown products and not blood as sometimes believed.

TNT is prone to exudation of dinitrotoluenes and other isomers of trinitrotoluene when projectiles containing TNT are stored at higher temperatures in warmer climates.

In September 2001, the United States Environmental Protection Agency declared TNT a pollutant whose removal is a priority.

TNT is a reactive molecule and is particularly prone to react with reduced components of sediments or photodegradation in the presence of sunlight.

TNT is thermodynamically and kinetically capable of reacting with a wide number of components of many environmental systems.

Possible TNT transformations include reduction of one, two, or three nitro-moieties to amines and coupling of amino transformation products to form dimers.

Transformation of TNT is significantly enhanced under anaerobic conditions as well as under highly reducing conditions.

Evidence of the photolysis of TNT has been seen due to the color change to pink of TNT-containing wastewaters when exposed to sunlight.