I've been asked to write about how oxidation reactions are used to cause explosions, giving examples of both high and low explosives.
So far I've worked out the oxidation states in the reaction of gunpowder, and believe that the change in oxidation state of nitrogen from +5 (in KNO3) to 0 (in N2) is something to do with it.
The high explosive that I'm supposed to give an example of is nitroglycerine (C3H5N3O9). The oxidation states of carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen and oxygen are simple enough, but I'm stuck on nitroglycerine. I'm assuming each O would have a state of -2, and each H a state of +1, but haven't got a clue about N or C atoms.
Am I going in completely the wrong direction here, or am I just missing something fairly simple?