Most Powerful And Destructive Explosive In The World

[All Seeing Eye]

Obviously the nuclear weapon is the most powerful but if you wanted to create and build a bomb and have it the most powerful you can build without the fear of radiation what explosive or explosive mixture would be used?

Obviously C4 is pretty powerful stuff and Thermite can burn through almost anything but are these the most powerful we've got?

 

[Lindley]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_all_bombs

 

[All Seeing Eye]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_all_bombs

Well reading that article it would seem there is some controversy over the bomb. Some are questioning what is even in it.
I'm interested in finding out what type of explosive is the most powerful rather than what type of bomb. The FOAB in the article is lacking the necessary info to determine the type of explosive.

 

[The Badger]

If you are talking types of explosive then the snappily titled octanitrocubane is probably the world leader, having a relative effectiveness of 2.7 (i.e. 2.7 times as effective as the same amount of TNT). HMX, a current military explosive used in warheads and shaped charges, is about 1.7.

C4, which is 91% RDX, has an RE of 1.34. Pure RDX is 1.6, but is not so convenient to work with.

 

[JustAFriend]

So the "Father of all bombs" set off a 44-ton blast.

While the 1947 Texas City blast, where a shipload of ammonium nitrate blew up,
resulted in a 2300-ton blast that was felt 100 miles away.

....I think I know which one I'd rather be further away from.....

 

[CuttingEdge100]

The answer in this case is octanitrocubane or heptanitrocubane

 

[STR]

If you are talking types of explosive then the snappily titled octanitrocubane is probably the world leader, having a relative effectiveness of 2.7 (i.e. 2.7 times as effective as the same amount of TNT). HMX, a current military explosive used in warheads and shaped charges, is about 1.7.

C4, which is 91% RDX, has an RE of 1.34. Pure RDX is 1.6, but is not so convenient to work with.

Yeah, if you're looking to make a really explosive science experiment. If you want a BIG bomb, get the loads of aluminum powder based explosives used in daisy cutters and MOAB's. Bulk beats finesse any day.

 

[Santaman]

Cyclohexane is another nice one, its just a cleaning agent but..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flixborough_disaster

I actually worked with the stuff, 9000 liters of it kept at 80-90 celcius forming a vapor cloudwhich was constantly sucked away to the sides so you had about 50cm of vapor where you could dip your parts into, everything was protected against static electricity, anyone even thinking about bringing their mobile phone into the cleaning room would be murdered halfway...
It was an excelent cleaning agent for electronic stuff.

Of course nature can do far better... supernova etc, big Kboom... and here on Earth a volcanic eruption like Krakatau was in the 200 Megaton TNT range.