How Does Grenades Work ??

 Grenades are playing a vital role in wars and time of emergency from many decades. Being small in size they are effective too.
But you ever thought that how can a small fruit like object can be so dangerous ??Let us know about it today in this blog...

A grenade is a small weapon typically thrown by hand. Generally, a grenade consists of an explosive charge, a detonating mechanism, and firing pin to trigger the detonating mechanism.

Originally grenades were developed by Chinese around 1000 AD and later Europeans come

up with their gunpowder technology around 15th-16th century but their design was dangerous to use as they were made up of metal with gunpowder inside it and soldier needs to trigger this gunpowder with his own hands and throw it as soon as possible which most of the time causes danger for soldier's own life.But during 20th century, these were upgraded to much better and safer versions.

It is interesting to know that word "Grenade" is likely to derived from pomegranate, maybe due to its similar shape. Its first use in English dates from the 1590s.

Their are many types of grenades but as we are discussing about its working so we will discuss about its types on the basis of design of fuses used.

1. Time delay grenade
2. Impact grenade
3. Pull fuse grenade

•  Time delay grenade:These grenades were designed to provide sufficient time gap to operator to throw it safely.In this a special mechanism is used.

When safety pin is removed then the striker liver is free to move.When liver is detached from grenade , the striker starts moving inside and strike at percussion cap which trigger the chemical and it starts to burn and it takes 4-6 seconds to burn completely and sparks reach the detonator which explodes the grenade.This is the time period in which operator needs to throw the grenade.

These are very effective but are unpredictable as it takes 4-6 seconds to explodes which can give enemy a chance to counter attack or to throw back your grenades towards you. 

• Impact grenade:These types of grenades are mostly used from heights and when they strike any surface hardly they explode. Thats why these grenades are used with grenade launchers instead by free hands.

There is no chemical fuse for time delay and the percussion cap is directly connected with firing pin with some gap in between.
When these are launched they start to rotate due to their aerodynamic design and causes a Strong centrifugal force which pushes weighted pins outward and release detonator toward firing pin and when grenade strikes any surface firing pin get pushed towards detonator and explodes.

• Pull fuse:A pull fuse is a zero-delay fuse used in booby traps,the grenade detonates immediately when the striker retaining pin is removed. The pin is typically attached to a tripwire.

What is damage range of hand grenades??

Grenades has an advertised effective kill zone of 5 meter radius, while the casualty-inducing radius is approximately 15 meters. Within this range, people are generally injured badly enough to effectively render them harmless.

Can we pull the pin of grenade and put it back ??
Yes, we can. As pin is just for safety and trigger mechanism is linked with liver. But its not advisable to remove pin unnecessarily.

Can you pull the pin out of grenade with your teeth ??
As shown in movies, a tough guy pulls the pin with his teeth and throw it.But in reality  grenade pins are designed to be hard to pull so they won't be pulled accidentally. Attempting to pull them with your teeth will likely result in some painful dental damage.
So its better not to use your teeth...




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