What is ammonium nitrate powder?

Answer 1

MMONIUM NITRATE, a salt of ammonia and nitric acid, is a colourless, crystalline substance melting at 169 C. It is highly soluble in water and soluble in alcohol and liquid ammonia. Heating may cause violent combustion or explosion. Heating of the water solution or burning decomposes the salt to toxic fumes (nitrous oxide). Ammonium Nitrate reacts with combustible and reducing materials as it is a strong oxidant. It is prepared commercially by reaction of nitric acid and ammonia. It is widely used in fertilizers and explosives. The commercial grade contains about 34 percent nitrogen, all of which is in forms utilizable by plants; it is the most common nitrogenous component of artificial fertilizers. Ammonium nitrate also is employed to modify the detonation rate of other explosives, such as nitroglycerin in the so-called ammonia dynamites, or as an oxidizing agent in the ammonals. Ammonium nitrate is also used in the treatment of titanium ores and in solid-fuel rocket propellants, in pyrotechnics.