A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, or a vacuum bomb, is a type of explosive munition that works by dispersing an aerosol cloud of gas, liquid or powdered explosive. The fuel is usually a single compound, rather than a mixture of multiple molecules. Many types of thermobaric weapons can be fitted to hand-held launchers, and can also be launched from airplanes.
Blast from a US Navy fuel–air explosive used against a decommissioned ship, USS McNulty, 1972
Experimental setup
Finely-ground flour is dispersed
Cloud of flour is ignited
A dust explosion is the rapid combustion of fine particles suspended in the air within an enclosed location. Dust explosions can occur where any dispersed powdered combustible material is present in high-enough concentrations in the atmosphere or other oxidizing gaseous medium, such as pure oxygen. In cases when fuel plays the role of a combustible material, the explosion is known as a fuel-air explosion.
Lab demonstration with burning lycopodium powder
1878 stereograph rendering of the Great Mill Disaster
Mount Mulligan mine disaster in Australia 1921. These cable drums were blown 50 feet (15 m) from their foundations following a coal dust explosion.
Aftermath of 2008 explosion at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Georgia, US