Oxygen Balance & Explosive Thermochemistry

Molecular composition

Oxygen atoms in molecule 8

OB = -1600·(2C + H/2 - O) / MW

Thermochemistry readout

Oxygen balance

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Relative power

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Heat released

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Gas moles/mol

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How it works

The molecule here is a generic scaffold (fixed 6 carbons, 4 hydrogens, 3 nitrogens) with a variable number of oxygen atoms — dragging the slider adds or removes oxygen-bearing groups, exactly the lever real energetic-materials chemists use when balancing a molecule's oxidizer content.

Oxygen balance (OB) measures whether a molecule carries enough oxygen to fully oxidize its own carbon to CO₂ and hydrogen to H₂O. Zero OB means an exact match; negative means oxygen-starved (soot-forming); positive means excess oxidizer.

Why OB≈0 matters: reaction power depends on (1) how fast the reaction runs, (2) how much gas volume the products occupy, and (3) how much heat (ΔH) is released. All three peak near OB≈0, where combustion is most complete — this simulator's power curve is an illustrative model of that real trend, not a lookup for any specific compound.

Press Detonate to release the modeled N₂ / CO₂ / H₂O product cloud — its expansion speed and heat glow scale with the computed relative power.

Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.

Molecule / oxygen atom CO₂ product H₂O product N₂ product

Relative power–

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