Editing Incendiary device (section)

{{Short description|Weapons intended to start fires}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Mark 77 bomb loaded on FA-18.jpg|thumb|Loading a [[Mark 77 bomb|Mark 77]] napalm bomb onto a [[United States Marine Corps|US Marine]] Strike Fighter Squadron [[McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet|F/A-18A Hornet aircraft]] during a June 1993 training exercise]]
[[File:Fire-ball Veste-Coburg.jpg|thumb|A 17th century fire or light ball from [[Veste Coburg]], Germany]]

'''Incendiary weapons''', '''incendiary devices''', '''incendiary munitions''', or '''incendiary bombs''' are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as [[anti-personnel weapon|anti-personnel weaponry]]. Incendiaries utilize materials such as [[napalm]], [[thermite]], [[magnesium|magnesium powder]], [[chlorine trifluoride]], or [[white phosphorus munitions|white phosphorus]].<ref name="ghouta">{{cite book |title= Breaking Ghouta |date= 2018 |publisher= Atlantic Council |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep30699.9 |chapter= Incendiary Weapons|last1= Andriukaitis |first1= Lukas |last2= Beals |first2= Emma |last3= Brookie |first3= Graham |last4= Higgins |first4= Eliot |last5= Itani |first5= Faysal |last6= Nimmo |first6= Ben |last7= Sheldon |first7= Michael |last8= Tsurkov |first8= Elizabeth |last9= Waters |first9= Nick |pages= 36–43 }}</ref> Though colloquially often called "[[bomb]]s", they are not [[explosives]] but in fact operate to slow the process of chemical reactions and use [[Combustion|ignition]] rather than [[detonation]] to start or maintain the reaction. [[Napalm]], for example, is petroleum especially thickened with certain chemicals into a gel  to slow, but not stop, combustion, releasing energy over a longer time than an explosive device. In the case of napalm, the gel adheres to surfaces and resists suppression.