Аннотация:Various mechanisms of the Coulomb explosion of a metal in an external electric field are discussed. It is shown that in the case of a low-frequency field, when the field frequency is lower than the collision frequency of the metal electrons, it is practically impossible to reach the conditions of a Coulomb explosion of a metal. If the field frequency exceeds the collision frequency, a Coulomb explosion of metal is possible when the electron oscillation energy in the metal is much higher than the Fermi energy and the work function. Such conditions are realized in a powerful short-wave (ultraviolet) laser radiation pulse for power densities of > 1017 W/cm2 or for the electric field of laser radiation stronger than the atomic field by more than an order of magnitude.