On the basis of a systematic testwork with a number of different dusts, the explosion indices as determined within the 201 sphere and with the ISO-VDI 1 m(3) vessel have been compared. The repeatability has been assessed and since some systematic deviations appear a refined physical analysis of the explosion processes is developed. It appears in particular that the cube root law supposed to link both vessels is not verified. A striking illustration of this appears when a dust with a significant explosion severity inside the 201 sphere is not even explosible in the larger vessel. It is strongly suggested that the ignition energy is forcing very significantly the explosion in the smaller vessel inducing several tens of Celsius degrees of preheating. It is shown also that the inner level of turbulence is decreasing very fast in the 201 sphere during the flame development so that difficult-to-ignite mixtures would tend to burn at a lower combustion rate. It is further demonstrated that the major bias between the chambers can be explained and quantified with these elements. A correlation with the standard 1 m(3) vessel and a grid of interpretation of the data is proposed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.