No. 2
Date of Permit 22-6-14   28-1-15
Nitroglycerine 6·5 10 
Ammonium nitrate 55  59[3]
Potassium nitrate 10 
Wood meal 4·5 10 
Starch 5 
Ammonium oxalate 19 
Sodium chloride 21 

Limit charge

32 

22 
Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·78 2·59”

THERMIT is not an explosive, although in some respects it resembles one. It generally consists of a mixture of about three parts oxide of iron with one part of aluminium powder, but other oxides and other metals are sometimes used. When initiated by strong heat in one place a reaction sets in with great evolution of heat and the formation of a white-hot mass of molten iron and slag. It differs from an explosive in that no gas is formed and the reaction is comparatively slow. It is used for filling incendiary bombs and for many industrial purposes.

THORNIT.—A German blasting explosive consisting of ammonium nitrate and vegetable meal. It may also contain animal or vegetable fats.

TITANITE.—A coal-mine explosive manufactured in Hungary. A variety of it was on the old British Permitted List—

Ammonium nitrate87
Trinitro-toluene7
Curcuma charcoal  6

Other varieties containing a smaller percentage of ammonium nitrate have been used for general blasting.

T.N.T. stands for trinitro-toluene or trotyl.

TOLITE stands for trinitro-toluene.

TONITE, or Cotton Powder, is a blasting explosive which was much used at one time. It consists of guncotton mixed with a nitrate and compressed into blocks or cylinders, but a small percentage of a nitro-compound has sometimes been added. A Belgian Tonite had the composition—

Guncotton53·0
Barium nitrate37·6
Sodium nitrate  9·4