Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
"David R.Birch" fired this volley in
:

If
you confine it, it burns faster, but it still doesn't explode, even
inside a cartridge fired in a firearm.


Ummm... den whut's dat big NOISE I hears ever time I pulls duh
trigger?

"Explode" only means - in connotation - to burn quickly enough to
produce a rapid enough expansion of gas to make a loud noise or do
work. Gasses in a modern reciprocating engine "explode", even when
burning smoothly, but do not "detonate" when working properly.

Are you sure you didn't mean "detonate", which has a specific meaning
as applies to explosives? (flame front progresses through the medium
faster than the speed of sound in the medium [and more stuff, but it's
boring]).

LLoyd

You're right, but I was responding to someone who thought he could
make unconfined gun powder explode by just igniting it. It would
neither explode nor detonate, just burn.

David