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Explosions need oxygen to ignite, and bolt shells are pretty much grenades right? So what combustable material is inside them to let them explode in space?

Modern smokeless powder and plastic explosives can explode/ignite underwater (see: torpedoes, depth charges); I suspect it works on the same principle.

Would you know what the stuff inside the shell is please AnomanderRake.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Boltgun#Ammunition_Types

Link to lexicanum which is as good as anything. I don't think the actual explosive is ever really defined.

 Lord Rogukiel wrote:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Boltgun#Ammunition_Types

Link to lexicanum which is as good as anything. I don't think the actual explosive is ever really defined.

Darn you, beat me to it! Yea, I would assume that the standard explosive is something between Promethium or a trace element of some solid and highly unstable isotope.

 Unyielding Hunger wrote:

 Lord Rogukiel wrote:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Boltgun#Ammunition_Types

Link to lexicanum which is as good as anything. I don't think the actual explosive is ever really defined.

Darn you, beat me to it! Yea, I would assume that the standard explosive is something between Promethium or a trace element of some solid and highly unstable isotope.

It says in a standard bolt it has a depleted deulerium core, so the next question is what the fek is that, some sort of isotope?

Well, it sounds like delirium, but anyhow, your guess is as good as anyone's. Just imagine a fun little element 5 miles away from the center of the periodic table and run with it.

Its not Dulerium. Its Deuterium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuterium

A radioactive isotope of Hydrogen.

Yes, standard bolt shells are a small heavy water based explosive.

Cold fusion?

Who knows. GW is frustratingly vague on all the finer details of their universe.

I did a root search of the words and it hinted at cold fusion, but the site that google sent me to said I do not have the credentials to view the details of the research, and google didn't give me any other line of enquiry. But hey it's 40k so it wouldn't suprise me, and I share you fustration GT.

It probably is some sort of Fusion. A small scale nuclear reaction of less then a thousandth of a gram. Enough to create a small localized blast of energy, the bolt becomes shrapnel and the small burst of radiation does additional damage. Little to no radiation pollution afterwards, plus the materials are easy to find. Deuterium is found where ever there is water.

Truly a facinating glimpse at the Dark Age of Technology. They invented guns that shoot mini nuclear bombs at people.

 Grey Templar wrote:
It probably is some sort of Fusion. A small scale nuclear reaction of less then a thousandth of a gram. Enough to create a small localized blast of energy, the bolt becomes shrapnel and the small burst of radiation does additional damage. Little to no radiation pollution afterwards, plus the materials are easy to find. Deuterium is found where ever there is water.

Truly a facinating glimpse at the Dark Age of Technology. They invented guns that shoot mini nuclear bombs at people.

(grr! fethin phone)
only in 40k.

Makes sense. I did a search for the said Delirium sound-alike, and found that material. If it truly is a typo, then you sir know your proper universe technicalities and grammer spellings. On another note, your surprised? In the dark age of technology, we shot mini nukes at each other apparently while also creating super weapons like the Emperor class titans and the baneblades, along with the Men of Iron.

Thermite is self oxidizing, meaning that once it lights, it makes its own oxygen and can burn literally anywhere. In 40,000 years, who knows what type of compound could be made to explode and be self oxidizing?

TBH, it could be anything. We already pretty much have the technology to make exploding bullets, the only problem would be to make them self-propelling, explosive and small enough. 38,000 years sounds like plenty to do that. It could be a solid explosive, liquid, nuclear or just a chemical reaction... who knows, and what does it matter?

Bolt shells bit deep into the targets flesh setting off small nuclear explosions that bloomed deep inside when their deuterium depleted cores ignited, ripping mucle and bone to shards, and shreds of meat.

In that situation it matters.

Made from tears of Xenos players and a fleck of plot armour.

 Themanwiththeplan wrote:
Would you know what the stuff inside the shell is please AnomanderRake.

Deuterium is just hydrogen with a neutron in the nucleus; the 'deuterium core' is either a very dense chunk of matter designed to increase the mass of the bolt or evidence of the bolt shell causing a fusion reaction; I suspect it's the former since there's not a lot of evidence to suggest that Space Marines are bathing battlefields in radiation and since 'main charge' is a separate item in Lexicanum's description of the boltgun shell. Modern missiles, torpedoes, shaped charges, and the like tend to use nitroamine explosives like HMX since they're less sensitive to shocks and harder to detonate accidentally; I suspect a standard boltgun shell is actually a rod of hyperdense platinum-deuterium wrapped in plastic explosive (there are compounds that are supposedly more powerful than HMX that haven't been widely deployed, it's safe to assume that they'd have some really nasty stuff in the 41st millennium) with a fragmenting shell and capped with a very hard tip, making it essentially a .75-caliber armor-piercing frag grenade.

Thanks for getting back tome AnomanderRake

In case you're still wondering...

All explosives contain all the oxygen they require to react within the material, that's how they react (burn) so quickly.

Some have a separate compound known as an oxidizer (e.g. potassium chlorate, KClO3) that is mixed with a suitable fuel.
Some contain the oxygen within the chemical structure of the explosive, such as TNT, RDX, HMX etc... and are more efficient than those with separate oxidizers.

As for depleted Deuterium, I'm not too sure what they were thinking.
Depleted means it's no longer radioactive (such as with depleted uranium as used in the ammunition for the main gun for the A-10 thunderbolt, but that's just because it's heavy).
But deuterium is not radioactive. and even if it was, depleted means it's no longer what it was and therefore the only thing it can become from radioactive decay is hydrogen and/or neutrons.

However, deuterium and tritium (that's a hydrogen with 2 neutrons) can be used in nuclear bombs that are called hydrogen bombs (which work on nuclear fusion).

So a bolt going off is like a small hydrogen bomb, the question is why is the explosion so small...?!

Thanks Dr H

So a bunch of conjecture, speculation and hand waving? Yup sounds like 40k to me But seriously thanks for today's techno speak.

 Themanwiththeplan wrote:
Explosions need oxygen to ignite, and bolt shells are pretty much grenades right? So what combustable material is inside them to let them explode in space?

I'm fairly sure that it's a very small nuclear explosion, thus the bolt shell would have something like uranium or plutonium or some other reactive material in the warhead

 thefarseerofnorthryde wrote:

 Themanwiththeplan wrote:
Explosions need oxygen to ignite, and bolt shells are pretty much grenades right? So what combustable material is inside them to let them explode in space?

I'm fairly sure that it's a very small nuclear explosion, thus the bolt shell would have something like uranium or plutonium or some other reactive material in the warhead

It's already been discussed that it's probably fusion, meaning hydrogen.

Imho, the depleted deuterium was simply a screw-up on part of the writers, but can best be explained by being intended to increase the weight (and thus kinetic punch) of the projectile for subtypes intended to penetrate their target. In case of the Inferno and Metal Storm rounds, which are not intended to penetrate but rather spray their payload in front of the target, the deuterium core is replaced by a flammable gel and an increased main charge (for better frag AoE) respectively, whilst in case of the Kraken Penetrator round the standard deuterium core is changed for adamantium, which I assume will increase penetration at the cost of more arcane production resources.

As you can see here, the depleted deuterium is not the "main charge".

I dunno, the mini-nuke idea seems, to me at least, somewhat far-fetched when GW has apparently never, ever even hinted at this in the many dozens of descriptions they have written about bolt weapons over 20 years.

Just my two shells, though.

Ahh, but if you wanted to increase the weight of the round using deuterium is pointless as it's a gas, twice the weight of hydrogen but not the heaviest of elements.
And on Lexicanum, it says that the bolt "possesses a super-dense metallic core" so that'll be the penetrator and weight.

The main charge would be used to set off the deuterium as you have in any nuclear bomb.

The diamantine tip would be for penetration, I'm assuming that this is a made-up very hard substance.

The detonator cap is what it says.

You wouldn't want the deuterium core in the other bolts as the heat from the fusion would likely destroy the mutagenic acid or the oxy-phosphor gel. It wouldn't help the penetration of the Kraken round (that has the solid adamantine core) or the fragmentation of the Metal Storm round.

But as with any of the background in 40k etc... there's alot of made up science.
Mutagenic acid? A mutagen is something that gives you cancer (via a different route than carcinogens).
Oxy-phosphor? er what?
and eveything else.
It's like alot of the cosmetic adverts you get these days, where they think "that sounds like a nice sciencey word, we'll use that and it'll sound awesome".

 Dr H wrote:
In case you're still wondering...

All explosives contain all the oxygen they require to react within the material, that's how they react (burn) so quickly.

Some have a separate compound known as an oxidizer (e.g. potassium chlorate, KClO3) that is mixed with a suitable fuel.
Some contain the oxygen within the chemical structure of the explosive, such as TNT, RDX, HMX etc... and are more efficient than those with separate oxidizers.

As for depleted Deuterium, I'm not too sure what they were thinking.
Depleted means it's no longer radioactive (such as with depleted uranium as used in the ammunition for the main gun for the A-10 thunderbolt, but that's just because it's heavy).
But deuterium is not radioactive. and even if it was, depleted means it's no longer what it was and therefore the only thing it can become from radioactive decay is hydrogen and/or neutrons.

However, deuterium and tritium (that's a hydrogen with 2 neutrons) can be used in nuclear bombs that are called hydrogen bombs (which work on nuclear fusion).

So a bolt going off is like a small hydrogen bomb, the question is why is the explosion so small...?!

On the other hand, deuterium packs really, really well into platinum's crystal lattice, which can make a really, really dense chunk of matter; a deuterium/platinum core would operate on the same principles as depleted uranium; I'm assuming that's what they intended because it makes more sense than miniature fusion explosives.

 AnomanderRake wrote:


On the other hand, deuterium packs really, really well into platinum's crystal lattice, which can make a really, really dense chunk of matter; a deuterium/platinum core would operate on the same principles as depleted uranium; I'm assuming that's what they intended because it makes more sense than miniature fusion explosives.

True. But that would make it a really good hydrogenation (deuteration) compound, which might mess with the explosive in the main charge (you'd at least have to ensure they stayed separate).

There's easier ways to make a dense core. And if it's such a good dense core, why replace it for adamantine for the greater penetration rounds...

And I doubt the people writing it would have thought about platinum's crystal lattice, they would have mentioned it if they had.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that it makes sense... I'm just trying to rationalise why.

A self propelled mini-fusion bomb fired from an fully-automatic gun is, most definitely, crazy talk, but then so is most of the 40k universe...