Homemade C-4

[gringoloco71]

I vaguely remember reading how to do this from one of Eden press's books and wanted to see if anyone knows the ingredients to do that.

[odin_dax]

I vaguely remember reading how to do this from one of Eden press's books and wanted to see if anyone knows the ingredients to do that.

Would you even want to try making explosives? I'd suggest asking a chemist about the formula, if you find it.

[Pimpin4Life30]

This might help C4 (http://science.howstuffworks.com/c-42.htm).

[UKSWAT]

and wanted to see if anyone knows the ingredients to do that.

Chopped onions, carrots, bean sprouts and peppers. Obviously a pinch of salt and olive oil for frying.

Those are the ingredients you need for C-4.

[Noise_Sequence]

Chopped onions, carrots, bean sprouts and peppers. Obviously a pinch of salt and olive oil for frying.

Those are the ingredients you need for C-4.


Yum-yum, I think I'm hungry !

[death11284]

Ok, so you probably are an idiot, but I really don't care. I believe in natural selection..let me walk you through the synthesis..without great detail..

Overview:
C4 is a commercial explosive for military used plasticized for easier shaping, making your RDX go further (cheaper than straight RDX) and a variety of other reasons. It is prepared from a 91:9 RDX :PETN ratio plasticized with isobutanol or another solvent for such uses..

To keep this purely theoretical I am NOT going to give you the exact amounts for any of this, simply an overview of the process itself.

]Materials:
Battery Acid/Oleum
Distillation Setup
Decent Glassware
Ammoniun Nitrate/Potassium Nitrate (cold packs are enough for me..)
Pentaerythritol
Hexamine
Fume Hood (suggested)
Usual Nitration Equipment (Bicarb, salt-ice bath, emergency salt-ice+bicarb+water container in case of runaways, etc)
Urea
Isobutanol
Decanting Equipment


Sulfuric:
First of all, you are going to need highly concentrated sulfuric acid, not only for RDX production, but also for nitric acid production. This can be obtained from various sources, both commercial and private. Failing that, you will have to get battery acid from a auto part store, and concentrate it by boiling and distillation. If you can't figure this part out on your own..well..you're going to die making C-4..

This will be concentrated to 98-100% concentrations, use density tables to check the concentration.


Nitric:
This must be very, I repeat VERY high concentration (98-100%) and free of NOx impurities, this will be VERY difficult if not impossible for you to get from a vendor. DO NOT attempt the RDX synthesis without these pre-requisites, you will hurt yourself.

Since we won't be obtaining this from a vendor, you will need to get the ammonium nitrate and sulfuric acid. You can look up how to do this, but you will need your distillation rig, be it beer bottles and teflon, or something more..legit. It will then need to be purged of NOx impurities using urea and bubbling oxygen through it until it is VERY near-clear..I cannot stress how vital it is that impurities are removed.

If it is yellow/red tinged you need to use more urea, and bubble more oxygen through it, do NOT get impatient.

PETN:

Fuming Nitric acid is cooled in a salt-ice bath to 5 degrees under (Celsius) Pentaerythritol is VERY slowly added, and let to cool. This is crashed into very cold water. The crude product is then neutralized and washed. For the purest product possible (which WILL be needed) dissolve in acetone then re-crystalize.

Set this to the side..


RDX:
This is the god-king of explosives, it's the big one..not always made for utility, but more to say "I've made RDX".

The super-concentrated, and impurity-free nitric acid is placed into a beaker. It is kept under 30 degrees celsius using a new salt-ice bath. The hexamine is added VERY, VERY slowly, keep the reaction between 20-30 degrees Celsius. Once the hexamine has dissolved, let stand for 5 minutes, and heat to 50-55 degrees C for 5 minutes sustained heat all the while stirring. Cool to 20 degrees C and let it sit. Gradually dilute the solution, wait a few hours , decant, and neutralize.


The PETN and RDX will be plasticized 91:9 RDX:PETN by weight.

Note that to keep this purely theoretical, and because this was to give you an idea, amounts were not mentioned, specific methods are left unexplained, etc. If you really want to pursue this you WILL have to research, but this will help you with said research.

[Th0r]

I vaguely remember reading how to do this from one of Eden press's books and wanted to see if anyone knows the ingredients to do that.

Oh Please!

Death Posted a good reliable recipe...

Saying that I don't think you'll get the military quality from the Recipe.

For Improvised Shaped Charge Ingredients try an ANFO AN/NM Mixture as opposed to Military Grade C4...

[death11284]

Ah, the only difference between that and the military grade recipe is that there isn't any motor oil in this one (there is supposed to be ~1.5%) and around 5% 2-ethylhexyl sebacate (I have no clue what that substance refers to..).

However military grade C4 varies greatly in composition as the plasticizer and explosives (also their ratios) vary greatly. This is military grade C4 in the vietnam-era, it isn't used anymore in the same composition because it's very expensive to produce the RDX.

[Hobbit Porn]

2-ethylhexal sebacate is a plasticiser.

Depending on what source you read, the plasticisers will vary. Although it is basically plasticisied RDX.

Death11284 : Are you sure that RDX isn't used due to the price of production? I thought it was a pretty simple explosive to make, especially for large industry.

[hatal]

I would rather use Ragnar Bensons Improvised C4 than fiddling with chemicals I cant even get my hands on. Improvised C4.

[Th0r]

I would rather use Ragnar Bensons Improvised C4 than fiddling with chemicals I cant even get my hands on. Improvised C4.

Yes but the AN/NM in his book is totally different from actual C4. Thus it loses all of it's advantages.

[hatal]

Yes but the AN/NM in his book is totally different from actual C4. Thus it loses all of it's advantages.

I know. You have to consider: the only real advantage of C4 is its plastic property. Is this property so important that you're willing to smuggle/buy expensive chemicals, not to mention risk your life, to obtain it. Cause there is really nothing else of a difference, its velocity is almost the same. And IMHO thats what matters.

[death11284]

Maybe I'm biased because I love nitrosugars, but ETN is very powerful, can be plasticized, cast, etc., also the chemicals are easier to get ahold of, by far.

Furthermore it's easier to make, and has a positive oxygen balance which allows for some interesting mixtures (most notably NG along with it).
Just my 2 cents.

[-=HeX=-]

PETN:RDX is SEMTEX, not C-4. C-4 is 91% RDX (type B - 10% HMX impurity), and 9% plasticizer whick is a sebacate, polybutene and occasionally motor oil. The RDX meeds to be differing particle sizes, and the C-4 needs much 'mechanical work' to make it workable. It is then pressed into blocks for use.

Oh may I add that ANNM sucks cock for shape charges. and ETN is excellent for plastic ex.

[death11284]

Well hell, I did some research and you were right. For some reason I had it in my head that semtex was like 70:30 RDX:PETN and C4 just had a much higher % of RDX in it (91:9). I had the 91:9 thing down I guess, just didn't realize the only explosive in it was RDX...

I don't think they use the polybutene anymore though, I'm pretty sure it's polyisobutylene...

Oh well my recipe is close enough haha...I guess "Death's higher quality semtex" would be a better way to put it.

Listen to this man! AN/XX is awful for plasticizing.

[crazy white guy]

The ragnar benson C4 was ANNM. I don't know what the rest of you were talking about.

[redjoker]

Instead of asking strangers how to make explosives, it would be a lot faster and safer if you downloaded some chemistry books and learned how to make the shit yourself.

[crazy white guy]

Instead of asking strangers how to make explosives, it would be a lot faster and safer if you downloaded some chemistry books and learned how to make the shit yourself.

LOL You could not be more wrong =)

Talking to people on this forum about explosives isn't very dangerous. HeX Is an expert, If he sees shit he'll call it. Going out and buying books without any prior knowledge IS dangerous.

[redjoker]

Even if certain people on this forum could be trusted it is always a good idea to grab a text book, or the electronic equivalent, and educate yourself rather than having people show you shortcuts. Shortcuts can often times lead you to dangerous places you aren't prepared to visit.

[-=HeX=-]

Well redjoker... Some of us here have journal access and a brain. I ask mates to grab me the journals I want - Journal of Propellants, Pyrotechnics and explosives is good.

Death: Your formula is indeed a SEMTEX. And IIRC they use Polybutene and it turns into PIB with the ethyl hexyl sebacate - being on holiday, I cant be fucked checking.

see ya all later, oh, blame the typos on this french keyboard!!!

[sburner48]

260 mL acetic anhydride in a 1000-mL beaker and add 105 g powdered ammonium nitrate while stirring.

Heat the beaker to 90 ?C and remove the source of heat.

Very slowly add 38 g of paraformaldehyde to the beaker, this addition will release toxic and flammable fumes, use a fume hood or go to an open area.

After the addition, add the contents of the beaker to twice its volume of cold water to precipitate crystals of RDX.

Filter the solution to collect the crystals and wash them with cold water then boiling water.

The RDX can be purified by dissolving in the minimum amount of acetone then diluting with cold water.

Filter the crystals to collect them and allow to dry in the open air.


I remember paying 100 bucks for 8 ounces of c4 when I was 16 (in my dream ofcourse),
now knowing how easy it is to make, I know like myself many other people will be ripped off when it comes to the purchase price lol.

[-=HeX=-]

*rollseyes*

Even a chemist like me has GREAT difficulty finding acetic anhydride.

And the 'E process' is REALLY shite yield.

It is better to nitrate Hexamine to Hexamine Dinitrate, then nitrolysis to RDX

Anyway, C-4 is not the best.

[iceniner]

This is the equivalent of his gunblue amp recipe.

[-=HeX=-]

Ah. SO just another posing fool then eh?

Well, Seeing as I am in a good mood...

...And wish to show off our latest bit of glorious explosive witchcraft...

Here is one concoction the lab has prepared. I won't go into ratios because I am not spoon feeding.

An OB-neutral mix of nitrocellulose (as the binder), RDX (helps balance its OB easier), Hydrazine Azide (N2H4*HN3 or N5H5) and Hydrazine Perchlorate (N2H4*HClO4). It is a 'solid' explosive, made into charges via 'solvent casting' as I call it. Well... It kicks the living SHIT out of any 'C4', seeing as the Hydrazine Azide alone is reported in literature as '25% more powerful than HMX' (Journal of Propellants, Pyrotechnics and Explosives). And with the OB fixed up with another potent compound... Both the HP and HA suffer due to, individually, terrible OB. But when you combine em... They act in 'Synergy' or something to make a rather interesting material. Though it is VERY hydroscopic, so the finished casts get a few layers of NC lacquer to protect em. That stuff is doubtlessly one of the mose powerful things to come out of the lab here - Perhaps of we replace the RDX with HMX it will be better - and add an Energetic Azido Binder. Or perhaps a different nitramine to RDX/HMX - if we ever trial HNIW synthesis it is going into a mix like this!

BTW, I don't think it counts as improvised because we used professional lab suppliers.

[Anders Hoveland]

Few people realize that there are other versions of plastic explosives that do not utilize the usual compounds: TNT, PETN, RDX, or HMX. There is, for example, NOTO (3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-oxide), and ANTA (3-Amino,5-Nitro-1,2,4-triazole). ANTA can be made from a certain type of herbacide if you live in a Midwestern rural community. Both of these are almost as powerful as RDX, but they are very insensitive. This means that they do not have to be diluted with any TNT to be safe, and so a composition of them with a little binder is MORE powerful than C-4.
Typical compositions are 40%NOTO and 60%RDX.
A big disadvantage is that NOTO quickly reacts and degrades if there is any moisture, similar to NitroUrea.
NOTO also has a minimum radius required for efficient detonation, similar to ANFO. For these reasons, NOTO is usually mixed with another more sensitive compound.

There is also 4,5-Dinitro, 1,2,3-Triazole (DNTZ), which is just as powerful as HMX. This can be made by simply reacting Nitro-Acetone with Sodium Azide. DNTZ also forms ammonium salts, and the addition of ammonium-DNTZate can make ammonium nitrate three times as powerful, without adding much sensitivity.
See my site for more information.

[Leshrac]

I know. You have to consider: the only real advantage of C4 is its plastic property. Is this property so important that you're willing to smuggle/buy expensive chemicals, not to mention risk your life, to obtain it. Cause there is really nothing else of a difference, its velocity is almost the same. And IMHO thats what matters.

You can plasticize an ammonium nitrate explosive too if it cheers you up...

Tho your best option for a safe explosive while avoiding the mess and danger involved in making RDX/HMX & PETN, I'd say a 30:70 Nitrocellulose:ETN composition would do just as well.
________
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[Anders Hoveland]

Styrofoam can actually be nitrated. First bubble in nitrogen dioxide, then perform a cold nitration
with 98% sulfuric acid and nitric acid. The nitration should not be longer than six minutes, otherwise the nitric acid will begin to attack the hydrocarbon chain. A polymer with the following structure will form

....................(NO2)......
......................l.............
(NO2)2(C6H3)--C--CH2--etc
......................l............
....................etc.........

It is soluble in acetone, forming a gunky paste that can be molded, and then dried and hardened into a plastic shape. The polymer has explosive properties similar to TNT. It can be used as the binder in 'plastic-bonded' formulations, and it also performs well with Potassium chlorate.
If a third nitro group is desired on the benzene ring, Cu(NO3)2 dissolved in Ac2O must be used. The nitric acid will sooner oxidize the hydrocarbon chain than put a 3rd nitro group on the ring.
When bubbling in the nitrogen dioxide, the reaction proceeds rapidly and with highest yield at 90 degrees Celsius, but the reaction will also happen at room temperature. The nitration with NO2 proceeds through the aromatic ring conducting an electron away from the methyl group, allowing an H+ ion to ionize off and leaving a radical.

[Leshrac]

It is soluble in acetone, forming a gunky paste that can be molded, and then dried and hardened into a plastic shape. The polymer has explosive properties similar to TNT. It can be used as the binder in 'plastic-bonded' formulations, and it also performs well with Potassium chlorate.

I assume you mean Nitrocellulose ? You should really try to experience before pull shit up; KClO3 will just burn out/be blasted away if you try to use NC.

It will in no way serve as a secondary force.
________
HERBAL STORE (http://herbalhealthshop.com)
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[Anders Hoveland]

No, the nitrated styrofoam is soluble in the acetone, the post had nothing to do with Nitrocellulose.

It is true that adding KClO3 is a complete waste if added to plain nitrocellulose. If it is desired to use KClO3 with nitrocellulose, either the nitrocellulose should not be fully nitrated, or a small ammount of petroleum jelly should be mixed in. Fully nitrated nitrocellulose only leaves CO2 and H2O when it decomposes, nothing left to for the KClO3 to burn with.

Nitrating styrofoam in the way described in the post is somewhat of a waste. The concentrated acid could probably be better used to just make plain nitrocellulose, which also can be molded and has some plastic properties. Styrofoam can also be nitrated with more dilute acids (70%) if the left to boil for 1-2 hours, but that only forms mono-nitro phenol, and waste most of the nitric acid, giving off a lot of CO2 and NO2.

[Abrazaderas]

Going out and buying books without any prior knowledge IS dangerous.

you're correct. we need to regulate the book industry and require licenses for any purchases of printed material.

[madscientist]

Styrofoam can also be nitrated with more dilute acids (70%) if the left to boil for 1-2 hours, but that only forms mono-nitro phenol, and waste most of the nitric acid, giving off a lot of CO2 and NO2.

Reference?

[Anders Hoveland]

There is no reference to give. I read about this on a regular chemistry forum, a professor found he could conduct make nitrobenzene using less concentrated nitric acid. You can see pictures on my site, verifying the results: https://sites.google.com/site/energeticchemical/organic-precursors-1

not going to give a reference for every reaction that readers do not know about, however, if there is something VERY important that a reader really wants to be certain is true, then a reference will be given; this is for two reasons- first it is too much trouble to have to find the source for everything that is posted, it is true that these types of reactions are not widely known of, and therefore understandably subject to suspicion, but readers can verify the truth for themselves by doing a little work typing things into metasearch. second, revealing certain sources might lead to these sources becoming "less available" in the future

[madscientist]

No, you have to give references. Not even Bob Woodward submitted papers without references. This is what got you banned (twice) from sciencemadness. Without references you can't verify anything that's said without a lot of wasted time; certainly more time than it takes to simply bang shit out into a post. Many of us have full access to journals and so are able to pull papers easily, so it's not a big deal to look further if a reference is given. The use of references goes beyond simple verification of a claim: you need them if you want to explore the mentioned material yourself, if it happens to be of use to you. Experimentals, data, references in that paper itself, etc.

You MUST post references on reactions that aren't considered common knowledge, no exceptions period, ever, no matter what.

[digermane]

Expanding on what madscientist said, it's less as a verification and more as a tool for learning. You cannot learn without reading the papers. When I read a paper and find something questionable or interesting I inspect the data they provided or pull up the reference they cited. There is NOTHING more frustrating than seeing a statement that you would like to read more about and not seeing a citation or seeing a citation that has no (or minimal) relevance to the subject. It's quite common and it's very very bad practice. Your word means nothing. Amos Smith's word means nothing. KC Nicolau's word means nothing. What means something are the references they provide to substantiate their work and the experimental results to verify it.

If you wish to be a scientist you must expect that no one will ever trust a single word that comes out of your mouth unless you can substantiate it with relevent peer reviewed sources and/or experimental data.

[Anders Hoveland]

Dinitropolystyrene 1510 m/s 0.25 g/cm3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ok5yaKBkMysJ:mihailru.freeservers.c om/shopping_page.html+dinitropolystyrene&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
The density could probably be increased by squeezing in a vice. The styrofoam precursor used was probably the foam form, which would explain why the nitrated product ended up with a low measurement for density. Increasing density would also increase det. velocity.
at 0.95 g/cm3, the det. v. increases to 2 km/s (U.S. 3,154,448), however beginning with denser form of polystyrene is likely to sterically hinder nitration to a greater degree, so for measurements of the denser forms of polynitrostyrene, it should be assumed that the polymer is not fully nitrated to the full theoretic dinitro ratio. This leaves unanswered the question of what the maximum theoretic detonation velocity would be of High-Density nitropolystyrene in a with a complete dinitro average ratio.

http://web.mit.edu/semenko/Public/Military%20Manuals/RogueSci-Mirror/explo/dinitropolystyrene.html

http://www.digitalprecursor.org/roguesci/chemlab/energetics/dinitropolystyrene.html
While the above link is an extremely large collection of information, the usefulness of it is highly limited by the lack of intermediate precursor data. For example, most of the furazans are described, but there is no section for 3,4-diamino furazan, even though this compound is a reactant for most of the other furazan compounds. An even biger issue is that a large proportion of the procedures involve extremely difficult to obtain or prepare reactants-
dinitrogen pentoxide, ozone, SO3 - to name a few, even though there are probably other ways which could utilize more common reactants. The disadvantage of only using procedures copied directly from the literature is that the routes to make certain compounds will be unnecessarily difficult, and there will be large gaps in a precusor chain, that will not provide all the necessary information for many of the final compounds to be prepared. It should be recognized that no matter how high quality a synthesis is, it is only as good as the information that is available about the precursors that are used in the synthesis.

On Science Madness, the poster 'Not Important' wrote: "If you really insist on making it, mono-nitration of polystyrene in solution in DCM or nitrobenzene will give mostly para substitution due to steric effects. The nitrated polystryrene then can be oxidised to chop the chains between aromatic rings to give nitrobenzoic acid, mostly para, and benzoic acid from unsubstituted styrene units." 28-1-2009 It should be added that no one questioned this post- and that forum is much more demanding about the quality of information than this forum.

"Copper nitrate, in combination with acetic anhydride, is an effective reagent for nitration of aromatic compounds, under what are known as "Menke conditions", in honor of the Dutch chemist who discovered that metal nitrates are effective reagents for nitration."
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZChLQE4wFpkJ:en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/303232+copper+nitrate+menke+conditions&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Another interesting reaction:
Cu(NO3)2 forms when copper metal is treated with N2O4
Cu + 2 N2O4 → Cu(NO3)2 + 2 NO

W. Jolly, "The Synthesis and Characterization of Inorganic Compounds" Prentice Hall, London, 1970] :

When using Cu(NO3)2 in Ac2O, "nitration of toluene . . . produces a mixture of at least 9:1 of 2,4- and 2,6-dinitrotoluene." Compare this with a ratio of " 8:2 when using mixed acid."
Josef Meissner GmbH & Co., DE 2 921 487 (1979)

Phenylnitromethane has been prepared by the nitration of toluene with dilute nitric acid in a sealed tube. Konowalow, Ber. 28, 1860 (1895). (the sealed tube probably implies heating)

"Nitrogen dioxide has been known to trap the benzyl radical more efficiently than molecular oxygen, thus favoring phenylnitromethane over benzaldehyde"
"To get phenylnitromethane, the reaction must be carried out at low temperature"


"nitration of toluene with nitrogen dioxide at a temperature between 20C to 95C yields a mixture of phenylnitromethane and phenyldinitromethane"

"synthesized phenyldinitromethane by treating phenylnitromethane with dinitrogen tetroxide in ether"
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470059364.ch1/pdf

"Reaction of phenylnitromethane with acetic anhydride/sodium acetate at 80–85° produces N-benzoyl-N,O-diacetylhydroxylamine, which can be isolated in 30% yield."
The reaction of phenylnitromethane with acetic anhydride/sodium acetate
F. Stermitz, D. Neiswander

The resulting compound has a structure (C6H5)--N(Ac)--OAc , and could be a useful source of
phenyl-hydroxylamine. (note that the (Ac) is connected to the N, and the OAc is also connected to the N, not the (Ac)).

Another article of interest, though having nothing directly to do with the topic, deals with reaction forming HN2OH from phenyl nitromethane,,
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:q-ZJcpubTMMJ:article.pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ppv/RPViewDoc%3Fissn%3D1480-3291%26volume%3D49%26issue%3D21%26startPage%3D3483 +To+get+phenylnitromethane,+the+reaction+must+be+c arried+out+at+low+temperature&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShh9ioB0_GSRXPCwu3jaLfKMM2nOI2OOLCU45An iP1WGKETP2Z2s5_FoLnmWjmIkd4Zc3fWEeoVO1rNZANp39rlOK zebp5C8W30Qh3LOv2j2CCXhIb4gfT_bifeQVS7K20aN3hS&sig=AHIEtbQS8UmpPLHJuCbNl_LfHrnhxWuPcw

[Anders Hoveland]

For a diagram of the reaction mechanism, see:
https://sites.google.com/site/revolutionagainstdemocracy/phenylnitromethane

It is very difficult to significantly increase the density of a low density polymer after it has formed. An idea would be to melt the polymer with a melt-castable filler, to fill in the "spaces" between the molecular chains, such a filler might be NOTO, the polymer would then protect the NOTO from hydrolysis and moisture, which is NOTO's main disadvantage.

It might be desirable to conduct the initial reaction with NO2 in an organic solvent, such as benzene or CH2Cl2, plain water is not likely to fully penetrate into the polystyrene.
For the subsequent nitration with mixed acids, a CH2Cl2 solvent might also be desirable.
CH2Cl2 solvent during mixed acid nitration is frequently mentioned in the literature; presumably the aromatic ring gets nitrated at a much faster rate than the CH2Cl2 gets oxidized.

Another note, phenylnitromethane cannot be nitrated into "tetra-nitro toluene" because the the nitromethyl group is vulnerable to disproportionation into a carboxyl group and hydroxylamine (which will quickly get oxidized) in acidic envirornments.
http://article.pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ppv/RPViewDoc?issn=1480-3291&volume=49&issue=21&startPage=3483
There is an unlikely possibility that this "modified Meyer reaction" could be minimized if the temperature was kept far below room temperature, however, then the nitromethyl group would be likely to get nitrated to a trinitromethyl group, which would make the final product very sensitive and thermally unstable.

However, for nitro-polystyrene, where the nitro is on a carbon which is not bonded to a hydrogen atom, the Meyer disproportionation reaction is not possible, and neither is the formation of a vulnerable-to-nitration tautomer possible (such as the aci-form of nitromethane).

The resulting polytetranitrostyrene or "tetranitro polystyrene" has obvious usefulness, despite the non-straight forwardness of the synthesis.

[Anders Hoveland]

While C-4 usually only contains RDX as the explosive (and sometimes PETN in improvised versions), there are many other more powerful compounds that can be used as the main ingredient instead, some of them are more resistant to impact than RDX.

RDX is only popular because that is what the military has been using, and there is plenty of easily available information about it. It is not necessarily the best explosive to use, only the one everyone knows about.