Word: tetryl
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Silversmiths may absorb so much silver that their skin becomes slate grey. "Canary" is the name for an explosive-powder worker whose hair and skin have become red-yellow from tetryl. A foundry worker often has red-streaked forearms...
When the potent new explosive goes into mass production, it will head an impressive list of U.S. military explosives. Chief items: TNT, amatol (a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate for artillery shells and aerial bombs), smokeless powder (long in use as a propellant), tetryl (used in shell boosters to provoke the detonation of laggardly TNT or amatol). Least sensitive of all the Ordnance powders is ammonium pictrate, which is used in armor-piercing projectiles because it can wham through steel without going off at first impact...
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