[mnw21cam]

I agree. I mean, there are loads of organic chemicals with plenty of oxygen in them, and they aren't explosive. What makes ammonium nitrate explosive isn't the oxygen in it, it's the nitrogen in it. The manufacturing process for ammonium nitrate involves using quite considerable amounts of energy to persuade nitrogen to get itself hitched to hydrogen and oxygen, but it would much rather be free as diatomic nitrogen, and when that happens you get that energy back.

[mirimir]

As I understand it, decomposition of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) alone produces a mixture of ammonia (NH3), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and water (H2O). But if there's a reducing agent around, such as charcoal, coal or fuel oil, you'll get lots of diatomic nitrogen.