I was trying to read up on the mechanics behind an explosion in light of the tragedy in Beirut, but there’s a couple of things I’m not really understanding. I’m unsure of the concept of entropy and I’m unclear of the term shockwave if it applies to the visible portion of an explosion or the resulting blast followed afterwards. Any help is appreciated!
In: Physics
When an explosive detonates, it creates a burst of supersonic hot gases (the actual fireball you see). These hot gasses push away the air around detonation, creating an expanding wall of pressurized supersonic air. This is a shockwave. The shockwave will continue traveling and expanding until it runs out of energy provided by the initial explosion. If you’ve ever felt a quick blast of compressed air, picture your entire body being hit with that, except several times more powerful.
Depending on the size of the initial blast, the shockwave can have enough energy to travel for miles, and damage property or even kill people (this is one thing movies continually get wrong, if you’re close enough to a blast to be thrown by the shockwave, you’re close enough for the shockwave to rupture your blood vessels and internal organs).
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