this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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Atomize* some propelant, boom, explosive.
* english choose the dumbest word for "zerstäuben".
Atomize, from the original Ancient Greek adjective atomos, meaning "uncuttable" or "indivisible".
Seems pretty apt to me. You have rendered it into its smallest constituent pieces through physical means, any further reduction requires chemical processes, or high energy physics. Coincidentally, a simple spark provides both.
The trick is to get the atomized propelant to "boom, explosive" at the target and not in your backpack.
Also, you probably want a "boom" sufficient to accomplish whatever demolition you're planning, which - again - raises the stakes regarding what's in your backpack.
There's a classic little film called "The Wages of Fear" that explores the hazards of amateurs transporting high explosives over long distances.
There are plenty of very safe HEs.
Tannerite comes to mind. It explodes from a high impact, and little else. I'm not sure what sort of yield you'd get. That stuff mostly just makes a pop and smoke.
I have heard of people using it on stubborn tree stumps, but that's several pounds of the stuff.
I mean, spray the leftover fuel into the oxygen-filled head only on target? It wouldn't stay atomized for long anyway. And for the boom, the shell needs only be strong enough. Wouldn't that work?
Sure, there's more effective explosives.
Idk, you wanna find out?
Listen, if you've got the specs for military ordinance and want to say "We've done this a thousand times, it works fine" that's one thing.
But it's very much another to just wave your hands and announce "you know, the boom-boom juice goes here and the detonator goes there and it'll probably do something."