Tonite (explosive)

Tonite is an explosive[1] sometimes used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It consists of a mixture of equal weights of barium nitrate and guncotton. [2]

According to Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by P. Gerald Sanford (available via Project Gutenberg): "The products of perfectly detonated gun-cotton may be expressed by the following equation: 2C12H14O4(NO3)6 = 18CO + 6CO2 + 14H2O + 12N. It does not therefore contain sufficient oxygen for the complete combustion of its carbon." The production of carbon monoxide is dangerous in mining operations in particular, so additional oxygen is provided by mixing a nitrate compound with the guncotton. Various nitrates have been used (nitre, potassium nitrate, barium nitrate, ammonium nitrate).

The explosive was patented in 1874[3] by Messrs Trench, Faure, and Mackie.[4] The high gas pressures generated by detonation of Tonite resulted in it being used as a bursting charge for some early hand grenades used in World War I. Its name was taken from the Latin verb tonat = "it thunders", and is pronounced "toe-nite" and not as "tonight".

References
  1. Reed Business Information (12 April 1973). New Scientist. Reed Business Information. pp. 112–. ISSN 0262-4079.
  2. William Gardner; Edward I. Cooke; Richard W.I. Cooke (23 July 2019). Handbook of Chemical Synonyms and Trade Names. CRC Press. pp. 1442–. ISBN 978-1-351-08978-4.
  3. Robert Trotter (1938). The history of Nobel's Explosives Company Limited and Nobel Industries Limited, 1871-1926. Imperial Chemical Industries Limited.
  4. "Improvement in explosive compounds". Retrieved 3 February 2016.
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