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PRELIMINARY COURSE ASSESSMENT CHEMISTRY: REACTION RATES
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HOMEPAGE
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Page: 1 of 10 (* currently answering part (a) )
The transition from combustion to explosion is caused by an acceleration of the reaction, induced either by a rise in temperature or by increasing lengths of the reaction chain. The first is called thermal explosion, and the second, chain explosion. It follows from the theory of branched-chain reactions that there is a limit to ignition, or to explosion, without a rise of temperature. In this case, what is called a chain explosion will occur when the probabilities of chain branching and of termination are equal. Usually, however, explosions are of a chain-thermal nature (i.e., both heat accumulation and chain auto-acceleration contribute to explosion).
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