Misplaced Pages

#237762

17-402: This weapon was claimed to be the most powerful conventional (non- nuclear ) weapon in the world, more powerful than GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast , which is often unofficially called "Mother of All Bombs" or MOAB. FOAB was successfully field-tested in the late evening of 11 September 2007. The FOAB device allegedly yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of

34-491: A fuel-air explosive or if it was a thermobaric weapon. "Fuel-air and thermobaric bombs differ in usefulness". Burky says that the weapon depicted in the video appears to be a fuel-air explosive, based on its shape. Weapons analyst Sascha Lange of German SWP speaking at Deutsche Welle pointed out multiple discrepancies in the released Russian video and expressed his skepticism about the Russian claim. John Pike, an analyst at

51-402: A chemical system. If reactants with relatively weak electron-pair bonds convert to more strongly bonded products, energy is released. Therefore, relatively weakly bonded and unstable molecules store chemical energy. Energy that can be released or absorbed because of a reaction between chemical substances is equal to the difference between the energy content of the products and the reactants, if

68-462: A closed container such as a bomb calorimeter . However, under conditions of constant pressure, as in reactions in vessels open to the atmosphere, the measured heat change is not always equal to the internal energy change, because pressure-volume work also releases or absorbs energy. (The heat change at constant pressure is equal to the enthalpy change, in this case the enthalpy of reaction , if initial and final temperatures are equal). A related term

85-479: A new type of high explosive . Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon . The bomb works by detonating in mid-air . Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass. According to General Aleksandr Rukshin ,

102-499: Is a form of potential energy related to the structural arrangement of atoms or molecules. This arrangement may be the result of chemical bonds within a molecule or interactions between them. Chemical energy of a chemical substance can be transformed to other forms of energy by a chemical reaction . For example, when a fuel is burned, the chemical energy of molecular oxygen and the fuel is converted to heat. Green plants transform solar energy to chemical energy (mostly of oxygen) through

119-452: Is more closely related to free energy . The confusion in terminology arises from the fact that in other areas of physics not dominated by entropy, all potential energy is available to do useful work and drives the system to spontaneously undergo changes of configuration, and thus there is no distinction between "free" and "non-free" potential energy (hence the one word "potential"). However, in systems of large entropy such as chemical systems ,

136-458: Is the heat of combustion , which is the energy mostly of the weak double bonds of molecular oxygen released due to a combustion reaction and often applied in the study of fuels . Food is similar to hydrocarbon and carbohydrate fuels, and when it is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water, the energy released is analogous to the heat of combustion (though assessed differently than for a hydrocarbon fuel—see food energy ). Chemical potential energy

153-509: Is the energy of chemical substances that is released when the substances undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances. Some examples of storage media of chemical energy include batteries, food, and gasoline (as well as oxygen gas, which is of high chemical energy due to its relatively weak double bond and indispensable for chemical-energy release in gasoline combustion). Breaking and re-making chemical bonds involves energy , which may be either absorbed by or evolved from

170-574: The Russian Deputy Chief of the General Staff , the new bomb was smaller than the MOAB but much deadlier because the temperature at the centre of the blast is twice as high. Some defense analysts question both the yield of the bomb and whether it could be deployed by a Tupolev Tu-160 bomber. A report by Wired says photos and the video of the event suggest that it is designed to be deployed from

187-768: The acceptable use of conventional weapons in war time. Conventional weapons are also regulated or prohibited under the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons . Others are prohibited under the Convention on Cluster Munitions , the Ottawa Treaty (also known as the Mine Ban Treaty), and Arms Trade Treaty . This article related to weaponry is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chemical energy Chemical energy

SECTION 10

#1732880452238

204-408: The initial and final temperature is the same. This change in energy can be estimated from the bond energies of the reactants and products. It can also be calculated from Δ U f ∘ r e a c t a n t s {\displaystyle \Delta {U_{f}^{\circ }}_{\mathrm {reactants} }} , the internal energy of formation of

221-1048: The numbers and how you scale this but the Russians have a long and proven history of developing weapons in the thermobaric class", he says. UPI claimed the device "would enormously boost Russia's conventional military capabilities". Conventional weapon The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons whose ability to damage comes from kinetic , incendiary , or explosive energy and exclude weapons of mass destruction ( e.g., nuclear , biological , radiological , and chemical weapons ). Conventional weapons include small arms , defensive shields, light weapons, sea and land mines , as well as bombs , shells , rockets , missiles , and cluster munitions . These weapons use explosive material based on chemical energy , as opposed to nuclear energy in nuclear weapons . Conventional weapons are also contrasted with weapons of mass destruction and improvised weapons . The Geneva Conventions govern

238-424: The process of photosynthesis , and electrical energy can be converted to chemical energy and vice versa through electrochemical reactions. The similar term chemical potential is used to indicate the potential of a substance to undergo a change of configuration, be it in the form of a chemical reaction, spatial transport, particle exchange with a reservoir, etc. It is not a form of potential energy itself, but

255-459: The reactant molecules , and Δ U f ∘ p r o d u c t s {\displaystyle \Delta {U_{f}^{\circ }}_{\mathrm {products} }} , the internal energy of formation of the product molecules. The internal energy change of a chemical process is equal to the heat exchanged if it is measured under conditions of constant volume and equal initial and final temperature, as in

272-411: The rear of a slow moving cargo plane, and they note that the bomb-test video released by the Russians never shows both the bomb and the bomber in the same camera shot. There are also questions on what type of explosives it used. They quoted Tom Burky, a senior research scientist at Battelle , saying "It's not even clear what kind of weapon the Russians tested." He questions if it was what some experts call

289-485: The think tank GlobalSecurity , says he believes the weapon is roughly as powerful as the Russians claim. What he does not necessarily believe is that the weapon is new. He says the Russians have possessed a range of thermobaric weapons for at least four decades. Robert Hewson, an editor for Jane's Information Group , told the BBC it was likely that FOAB indeed represented the world's biggest non-nuclear bomb. "You can argue about

#237762