Explosibility of Ammonium Nitrate

IT has long been known that ammonium nitrate can be made to explode in certain circumstances, and since the catastrophe at Oppau in 1921, it has been recognised that proper precautions should be taken Nevertheless, there have recently been two cases, at Texas City and Brest respectively, in which ships loaded with ammonium nitrate of American manufacture have caught fire and eventually exploded with violence. At Oppau the catastrophe was ascribed to the fact that charges of explosive were used to break up the mass, which had set hard ; but in the recent cases the explosions were evidently due to heat alone. As ammonium nitrate is being used on a very large scale as a fertilizer, the British Government appointed a working party under the chairmanship of the chief inspector of explosives to investigate the matter experimentally, and a report* has now been issued. The experimental work was carried out mostly by the officers of the chief superintendent of armament research ; but officers of other departments also collaborated.