An article with chemical formulae, discussing melting vs combustion temperatures, ratios of elements within the compound correlating to explosive effects... and they muddle mixture with compound - this is needlessly lax terminology choice.
I don't think the number of 'people not understanding the article' would decrease if they'd used the right word there.
Yeah until i read up on explosives (and other lively substances, hello Derek Lowe) my impression of nitrogen was that of it being the most benign of atmospheric chemicals.
As i have come to understand it, nitrogen gets real frisky when you pair it up with others that can't fill all its electron bonds. This then leaves it a hair breath away from going back to pure nitrogen bonds, releasing a whole lot of pent up energy in the process.
Yes, this is why nitrogen is a component of most explosives. While it will form compounds it forms unstable compounds that easily come apart. And that separation of the chemical bonds with nitrogen is what provides the immense energy release that makes for an explosion.
Note that the parent said "made it past the editor."
Being pedantic is the job of an editor. And, yes, explaining things correctly is hard, but doing so is the entire value proposition of a technical publication aimed at laymen.
That said, PM did say "seemingly innocent" so that part was entirely reasonable.
Maybe that person shouldn’t write for popular mechanics then?
This isn’t about Joe Average this is about someone who’s their job is to do research and write compelling stories.
And there is nothing pedantic about mixture vs compound a compound has chemical bonds which is what allows the explosion to occur as the breakage of those bonds is what releases the energy.
And as far as explosives go then a mixture again has a very specific meaning it means that there is an external oxidizer or a secondary explosive involved which changes the characteristics of the explosives considerably.
It makes up ~80% of the atmosphere, it's easy to forgive someone for being unaware of it's explosive potential.
> TNT is a compound, not a mixture
This is at best just needlessly pedantic. In this instance being correct would probably lead to more people not understanding the article.