re: #242 SteveMcGaziBolaGate RN

I thought the pressure cooker was just there to provide shrapnel.

No, it’s there to increase the brisance effect. Basically low order explosive powders don’t have much shattering ability on their own, set off a paper bag full of traditional black powder on a stump and it will just scorch the outside, because it doesn’t “explode” so much as burn or “deflagrate” quickly. They need to be encased so that the deflagration is contained for a little bit, which vastly increases the pressure. That’s why you can use a comparatively small amount of black powder to blow up a rock or stump by drilling deep in, laying a fuse and packing everything in super tight. Unlike high explosives low order explosives are all about giving the reaction nowhere to go until it exceeds the structural rating of its container.