If dynamite didn't expend all of it's energy in like... 13 nanoseconds, how many btu's might it give off?

Question

I'm just curious, I think it may be quite low.

Answer 1

Dynamite is made by soaking diatomaceous earth with nitroglycerin.

The reaction of exploding nitroglycerin is:

4 C3H5(NO3)3 (liq) --> 12 CO2 (g) + 10 H2O (g) + 6 N2 (g) + O2(g)

Every mole of nitroglycerin that detonates releases about 1.5 MJ of heat. This is not low it is very high for the heat of reaction. It is about 1421 BTU.