How Grenades Work

8/8/2019 How Grenades Work

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1. Introduction to How

Grenades Work

2. Grenade Basics

3. Time-Delay Grenade

4. Impact Grenades

5. Lots More Information

6. See all Explosives articles

How Grenades Work by Tom Harris

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Time-Delay Grenade

The most common type of grenade on the battlefield is the time-delay fragmentation anti-personnel

hand grenade. The primary function of this grenade is to kill or maim nearby enemy troops. To ensuremaximum damage, the grenade is designed to launch dozens of small metal fragments in every directionwhen it explodes.

These sorts of grenades, which played a major role in World War I, World War II, Vietnam and many other

20th century conflicts, are designed to be durable, easy to use and easy to manufacture. The conventional

design uses a simple chemical delay mechanism. The diagram below shows a typical configuration of

this system, dating back to the first World War.

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Photo courtesy Department of Defense

The proper way to throw a

hand grenade: Depress the

striker lever, pull the pin, hurl

the grenade.

The outer shell of the grenade, made of serrated cast iron, holds a chemical fuze mechanism, which

is surrounded by a reservoir of explosive materia l. The grenade has a filling hole for pouring in the

explosive material.

The firing mechanism is triggered by a spring-loaded striker inside thegrenade. Normally, the striker is held in place by the striker lever ontop of the grenade, which is held in place by the safety pin. Thesoldier grips the grenade so the striker lever is pushed up against thebody, pulls out the pin and then tosses the grenade. Here's whathappens ins ide once the grenade is released:

With the pin removed, there is nothing holding the lever inposition, which means there is nothing holding the spring-

loaded striker up. The spring throws the striker down against

the percussion cap. The impact ignites the cap, creating a

small spark.

The spark ignites a slow-burning material in the fuze. In about

four seconds, the delay material burns all the way through.

The end of the delay element is connected to the detonator ,

a capsule filled with more combustible material. The burning

material at the end of the delay ignites the material in the

detonator, setting off an explosion inside the grenade.

The explosion ignites the explosive material around the s ides

of the grenade, c reating a much larger explosion that blows

the grenade apart.

Pieces of metal from the outer casing fly outward at great

speed, imbedding in anybody and anything within range. This

sort of grenade may contain additional serrated wire or metal

pellets for increased fragmentation damage.

Time-delay grenades are very effective, but they do have some significant disadvantages. One problem is

their unpredictability: In some chemical fuzes, the delay time may vary from two to six seconds. But the

biggest problem with time-delay grenades is that they give the enemy an opportunity to counterattack. If a soldier doesn't time a grenade toss just right, the enemy may pick it up and throw it back before it

explodes.

For this reason, soldiers must use impact grenades in certain situations. An impact grenade explodes

wherever it lands, so there is no chance for the enemy to throw it back. In the next section, we'll see how

this sort of grenade works.

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1. Introduction to How Grenades Work

2. Grenade Basics

3. Time-Delay Grenade

4. Impact Grenades

5. Lots More Information

6. See all Explosives articles

Inside this Article

Adventure Animals Auto Culture Entertainment Health Home & Garden Lifestyle Money Science Tech



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How Grenades Work