C4 what is it

More often, you will have lowered levels of several complement components at once. This is the result of an acquired disease. If your C3 and C4 levels are reduced, this may be a sign that you have lupus.

Usually your total complement level is also slightly lower in this situation. Low C3 and C4 levels may also be a sign of alcoholic liver disease, but this is less common. A deficiency in complement C4 levels has been linked to different forms of kidney disease and chronic hepatitis. It has also been found in a number of childhood diseases, including:. If you are being treated for a disease like lupus and your complement C4 levels go up, it may be a sign that your treatment is working.

The test is done with a blood sample. A needle is used to draw blood from a vein in your arm or hand. Having a blood test with a needle carries some risks.

These include bleeding, infection, bruising, and feeling lightheaded. When the needle pricks your arm or hand, you may feel a slight sting or pain. Afterward, the site may be sore. Register Don't have an account? C-4 explosive. Edit source History Talk 0. Inserting blasting caps into blocks of C4 explosive Unexploded ordnance prepared for destruction by M demolition charges the black bricks.

Global Security. Ribbands Explosives. ISBN Cancel Save. It doesn't exist officially. It uses highly pressured mercury accelerated by nuclear energy to produce a plasma that creates Video Shock and Awe. Related Topics Air Force Topics. Related Videos. The expanding gases only serve to push a small object. High explosives , such as C-4 and TNT, expand more rapidly, generating much greater pressure.

Explosives experts refer to rapid explosive reactions as detonation and slower explosive reactions as deflagration. C-4, or composition 4 , is one variety of plastic explosive. The basic idea of plastic explosives, also called plastic bonded explosives PBX , is to combine explosive chemicals with a plastic binder material. The binder has two important jobs:. The explosive material in C-4 is cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine C3H6N6O6 , commonly called RDX which stands for "royal demolition explosive" or "research development explosive".

The additive material is made up of polyisobutylene , the binder, and di 2-ethylhexyl sebacate , the plasticizer the element that makes the material malleable. It also contains a small amount of motor oil and some 2, 3-dimethyl-2, 3-dinitrobutane DMDNB , which functions as a chemical marker for security forces. To make C-4 blocks, explosives manufacturers take RDX in powder form and mix it with water to form a slurry. They then add the binder material, dissolved in a solvent, and mix the materials with an agitator.

They remove the solvent through distillation , and remove the water through drying and filtering. The result is a relatively stable, solid explosive with a consistency similar to modelling clay. Just as with other explosives, you need to apply some energy to C-4 to kick off the chemical reaction. Because of the stabilizer elements, it takes a considerable shock to set off this reaction; lighting the C-4 with a match will just make it burn slowly, like a piece of wood in Vietnam, soldiers actually burned C-4 as an improvised cooking fire.

Even shooting the explosive with a rifle won't trigger the reaction. Only a detonator , or blasting cap will do the job properly. A detonator is just a smaller explosive that's relatively easy to set off. An electrical detonator, for example, uses a brief charge to set off a small amount of explosive material.

When somebody triggers the detonator by transmitting the charge through detonator cord to a blasting cap , for example , the explosion applies a powerful shock that triggers the C-4 explosive material. When the chemical reaction begins, the C-4 decomposes to release a variety of gases notably, nitrogen and carbon oxides. The gases initially expand at about 26, feet per second 8, meters per second , applying a huge amount of force to everything in the surrounding area.

At this expansion rate, it is totally impossible to outrun the explosion like they do in dozens of action movies.