Definition of Detonation

1. Noun. A violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction.

Exact synonyms: Blowup, Explosion
Generic synonyms: Discharge
Specialized synonyms: Airburst, Blast, Backfire, Big Bang, Backfire, Blowback, Fragmentation, Inflation
Derivative terms: Blow Up, Detonate, Explode

2. Noun. The act of detonating an explosive.
Generic synonyms: Burst, Explosion
Specialized synonyms: Percussion
Derivative terms: Detonate

Definition of Detonation

1. n. An explosion or sudden report made by the instantaneous decomposition or combustion of unstable substances; as, the detonation of gun cotton.

Definition of Detonation

1. Noun. An explosion or sudden report made by the near-instantaneous decomposition or combustion of unstable substances as, the detonation of gun cotton. Specifically, combustion that spreads supersonically via shock compression. ¹

2. Noun. Engine knocking, an improper combustion in internal combustion engines ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Detonation

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Detonation

detinning
detins
detinue
detinues
detitanation
detonabilities
detonability
detonable
detonatable
detonate
detonated
detonates
detonating
detonating device
detonating fuse
detonation (current term)
detonations
detonative
detonator
detonators
detonization
detonizations
detonize
detonized
detonizes
detonizing
detorsion
detorsions
detort
detorted

Literary usage of Detonation

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature (1907)
"Stretching insulating wires across the row of discs, at intervals of six feet, their rapture by the detonation gires spark-records on the cylinder of ..."

2. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry by Thomas Edward Thorpe (1912)
"detonation.—Nobel, in 1864, had discovered that nitroglycerin could be detonated by means of mercury fulminate ; and in 1868, Abel found that air-dry ..."

3. Review of International Technologies for Destruction of Recovered Chemical by National Research Council (U.S.) (2006)
"detonation processes destroy whole munitions, in discrete events. A procedure for determining the degree of destruction for a detonation process should ..."

4. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1874)
"The exceptional behaviour exhibited by certain explosive compounds with respect to their power of inducing the detonation of other substances by their ..."

5. Explosives: A Synoptic and Critical Treatment of the Literature of the by Heinrich Brunswig (1912)
"It is yet doubtful whether any relation exists between the chemical composition of an explosive and its ability to transmit its detonation to another body ..."

6. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry by Thomas Edward Thorpe (1921)
"Under the extreme conditions of ' detonation ' the temperature of each successive layer of the explosive mixture is suddenly raised to the ignition point by ..."

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