Decisive Role of the Laws of Chain Reactions in Processes of Combustion, Explosion, and Detonation of Gases¹

Abstract—Such Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov’s discoveries as branching of reaction chains and features of chain combustion mechanism at low pressures (in the absence of self-heating) were shown to play a decisive role also at high pressures, in flame propagation, and in explosion and detonation. A physicochemical mechanism was revealed that ensures high rates and accelerations of reactions, consumption of reactants within hundred-thousandths of a second, and transition of combustion to explosion and detonation. Previously unexplainable laws of all the combustion modes were explained. Chemical methods based on the laws of chain reactions were developed to control combustion, explosion, and detonation.