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blasting |
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blasting, shattering, breaking, or splitting of rock or other material by the discharge of an explosive explosive, substance that undergoes decomposition or combustion with great rapidity, evolving much heat and producing a large volume of gas. The reaction products fill a much greater volume than that occupied by the original material and exert an enormous pressure, ..... Click the link for more information. placed within or in contact with it. It is a necessary part of many engineering operations. An ancient method of breaking rock consisted of heating the rock by fire and then pouring water on it, the sudden contraction resulting in shattering or cleavage. Modern methods of blasting involve four operations: drilling the holes to receive the charge, placing it, stemming the hole (i.e., filling the hole above the charge with earth or clay), and igniting or detonating the charge. The location, size, and number of holes drilled depend upon local conditions and the nature of the work. The holes vary from 1 to 3 in. (3–8 cm) in diameter and from a few inches up to 20 ft (6 m) or more in depth. The charge is made up of some explosive, such as dynamite or ammonium nitrate; black powder, the oldest known explosive, is rarely used today. Multiple charges are sometimes set off, either simultaneously or in sequence. |
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Nobody will pay you well for blasting my name: I know the worst you can do against me, and I shall brave it if you dare to thrust yourself upon me again. Then came more of the wrathful monsters, whose like they almost seemed to be in their wildness and their untamed air, screeching and turning round and round again; and still, before, behind, and to the right and left, was the same interminable perspective of brick towers, never ceasing in their black vomit, blasting all things living or inanimate, shutting out the face of day, and closing in on all these horrors with a dense dark cloud. They expressed commisera- tion for that part of the army which had been left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves upon being a part of a blasting host. |
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