=AMATOL.=--A mixture of ammonium nitrate and trinitro-toluene. The composition is shown by the figures placed after the name; thus Amatol 40/60 contains 40 per cent. ammonium nitrate and 60 per cent. trinitro-toluene, and Amatol 80/20 consists of 80 parts ammonium nitrate and 20 parts trinitro-toluene. These explosives are used very extensively for filling shell and other projectiles. The mixtures rich in trinitro-toluene can be cast after being heated to temperature above the melting-point of this constituent, but those rich in ammonium nitrate are stemmed into the projectile hot or pressed. Similar mixtures are used by the Germans and other powers under various names. In Germany it is called Füllpulver (q. v.). =AMATOXOL.=--A mixture of ammonium nitrate and Toxol, which consists of trinitro-toluene and trinitro-xylene. *=AMBERITE.=--A smokeless shot-gun powder made by Curtis’s and Harvey at Tonbridge. Amberite No. 1 contained nitroglycerine as well as nitrocotton and various other substances. According to “Arms and Explosives,” 1917, p. 78, a sample of Amberite No. 2 had the composition-- Insoluble nitrocotton 18·6 Soluble ” 46·0 Nitrates of potassium and barium 28·0 Vaseline 6·0 Volatile matter 1·4 This is still on the market. It is a fibrous 42-grain bulk powder. *=AMIDE POWDER= or Chilworth Special Powder was an early attempt at a smokeless powder. Under the name of Amidpulver it was used by the German artillery for some years in the ’eighties of the last century. Its composition was-- Ammonium nitrate 35-38 Potassium nitrate 40-46 Charcoal 14-22 See also Ammonpulver and Hebler Powder. =AMMONAL= is a blasting explosive containing ammonium nitrate, aluminium powder, charcoal, and generally trinitro-toluene. It was patented in 1900 by G. Roth of Vienna, and the following are some of the compositions made by his firm at Felixdorf in Austria-- _a_ _b_ _c_ _d_ Ammonium nitrate 80·75 90 88 80 Aluminium 15 4 8 18 Charcoal 4·25 6 4 2 More violent mixtures made by the same firm are-- I II Ammonium nitrate 46 32 Trinitro-toluene 30 50 Aluminium 22 16 Charcoal 2 2 and modifications of this have been used largely in the British service. It is not suitable for use in underground workings as it forms on explosion the poisonous gas carbon monoxide, unless the proportion of ammonium nitrate be large. It has been used for charging grenades, and by the Austrians for trench howitzer bombs. When the explosive is detonated, the aluminium is converted into the oxide, evolving no gas, but a considerable amount of heat, which increases the power of the explosive. The aluminium powder also renders the explosive easier to detonate.