Ammonium nitrate
Reactions

As ammonium nitrate is a salt, both the cation, NH + 4, and the anion, NO − 3, may take part in chemical reactions.

Solid ammonium nitrate decomposes on heating. At temperatures below around 300 °C, the decomposition mainly produces nitrous oxide and water:

At higher temperatures, the following reaction predominates.

Both decomposition reactions are exothermic and their products are gas. Under certain conditions, this can lead to a runaway reaction, with the decomposition process becoming explosive. See § Disasters for details. Many ammonium nitrate disasters, with loss of lives, have occurred.

The red–orange colour in an explosion cloud is due to nitrogen dioxide, a secondary reaction product.
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