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In aerosol cans, the propellant is simply a compressed gas. Chlorofluorocarbons were once often used, but have been replaced in recent years due to the negative effects CFCs have on Earth's atmospheric ozone layer.
In ballistics and pyrotechnics, a propellant is a material which burns very rapidly but controllably, to produce thrust by gas pressure and thus accelerate a projectile or rocket. In this sense, common or well known propellants include, for firearms, artillery and solid fuel rocketss: