Re: Challenger didn'r "explode"

PP@xxxxxx writes:

Any thoughts?

It can be a matter of definition, which can be different in different
contexts. Show a film of it to a large group of random Americans and
most of them will agree with calling it an explosion, which qualifies
it for one conforming definition in a good dictionary.

IIRC, the most severe definition requires a shockwave, where the
"front" of the expanding gas is supersonic normal to the front (at
least for a decent (?) distance), rather than just very fast, as in
more popular definitions.

(Then there's "detonation", which seemingly doesn't have to be
supersonic, either; just a front of burning thru a burnable or
explodable gas mixture. As opposed to a ball of gas which expands
_after_ heating from burning, I guess.)
.

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