a device for exploding a series of charges. The outside diameter of a detonating cord is 5-6 mm. The cord consists of a number of layers of flax or cotton threads (sometimes glass threads) that form a tube filled with powdered explosive of high detonating capacity (usually pentaerythritol tetranitrate [PETN]; less frequently hexogen or octogen). The detonation speed of a cord filled with PETN is 6.5 km/sec. The explosive content of detonating cord is usu-ally 12-13 g per m.

To avoid leakage of water into detonating cord, it is en-closed in a plastic shell, or the outside layers are impregnated with water-resistant mastic. The outside layer of detonating cord, unlike that of safety fuses, is colored red or contains red threads. Detonating cord is intended to transmit detonation from a detonating cap to charges that are sometimes at a considerable distance (hundreds of meters) from the place of initiation and from one another.