Talk:Detonation
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"This is in contrast to deflagration, where the pressure waves are subsonic."
- Wouldn't a pressure wave just travel at the speed of sound, by definition, making it sonic? - Omegatron 18:51, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)
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- Only if it's only an small disturbance. Large pressure increases sharpen into shocks where the flow enters the shock supersonically, but leaves, compressed and slowed, subsonically.
If it's a pressure decrease, then usually it spreads out (rarefaction) and every bit of it travels at the _local_ speed of sound. See any book on Gas Dynamics Linuxlad 10:36, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
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- Deflagration is more of a process than a true wave. Imagine very rapid burning, driven mainly by heat rather than by only pressure.--BillFlis 10:33, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
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Latin "detonare"----
The etymology section is wrong. The 'de' in detonare is closer in meaning to the English particle off as in to sound off or to give off (cf. Merriam-Webster etymology for detonate: French détoner to explode, from Latin detonare to expend thunder, from de- + tonare to thunder). --Rcgy 16:59, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
Combustion?----
"Detonation is a process of supersonic combustion..."
Defining detonation as a form of combustion would imply the presence of an oxidizer, would it not? This definition would exclude the exothermic decomposition of certain compounds in the absence of oxygen, including obvious explosives such as TNT or nitroglycerin. Jp69091 05:05, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
