When an explosive detonates the reaction is extremely fast and, initially, the gases do not have time to expand to any great extent. The heat liberated by the explosion will raise the temperature of the gases, which will in turn cause them to expand and work on the surroundings to give a lift and heave effect . The effect of this heat energy on the gas can be used to calculate the temperature of explosion.

The temperature of explosion T _e is the maximum temperature that the explosion products can attain under adiabatic conditions. It is assumed that the explosive at an initial temperature T _i is converted to gaseous products which are also at the initial temperature T _i. The temperature of these gaseous products is then raised to T _e by the heat of explosion Q. Therefore the value of T _e will depend on the value of Q and on the separate molar heat capacities of the gaseous products as shown in Equation 5.14, where C _v is the molar heat capacities of the products at constant volume and ? represents the summation of the heat capacity integrals corresponding to the separate components of the gas mixture:

The rise in temperature of the gases is calculated by dividing the heat generated Q by the mean molar heat capacity of the gases at constant volume ? C _v as shown in Equation 5.15, where