The History of Explosives

Explosives are materials capable of an instantaneous release of gas or heat.

An explosive is a substance or a device that produces a volume of rapidly expanding
gas that exerts sudden pressure on its surroundings.
There are three common types of explosives: chemical, mechanical, and nuclear.
Mechanical explosions are physical reactions, for example the effects of compressed air.

Black Powder
It is unknown who invented the first explosive black powder. Black powder also
known as gunpowder is a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and
charcoal (carbon). It originated in China around the tenth century and was used
in fireworks and signals. Black powder is the oldest form of a ballistic propellant
and it was used with early muzzle-type firearms. Being a mechanical explosive
that is messy, black powder was eventually replaced by cleaner smokeless
powder explosives.

Safety Fuse
In 1831, William Bickford an English leather merchant invented the first safety
fuse. Using a safety fuse made black powder explosives more practical and safer.

Nitroglycerin
Nitroglycerin is a chemical explosive that was discovered by Italian chemist
Ascanio Sobrero in 1846. Nitroglycerinis a mix of nitric acid and glycerin.
Nitroglycerin is a mix of nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and glycerol.

Nitrocellulose
In 1846, Chemist Christian Schonbein discovered nitrocellulose or guncotton
when he accidently spilled an acid mixture on a cotton apron and the apron
exploded.

TNT

In 1863, TNT or Trinitrotoluene was invented by German chemist Joseph

Wilbrand. It is considered a high explosive.

Blasting Cap
In 1865, Albert Nobel invented the blasting cap. The blasting cap provided a safer
and dependable means of detonating nitroglycerin.

Dynamite
In 1867, Albert Nobel patented dynamite .

Smokeless Powders
In 1888, Albert Nobel invented a dense smokeless powder explosive called
ballistite. In 1889,
Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Abel invented another smokeless gunpowder
called cordite. Cordite was made of of nitroglycerin, guncotton, and a petroleum
substance gelatinized by addition of acetone.

Modern Explosives
In 1955, modern high explosives were developed. Explosives such as nitrate-fuel
oil mixtures or ANFO and ammonium nitrate-base water gels now account for
seventy percent of the explosive market.

History of Dynamite
Industrialist Alfred Nobel invented the detonator for dynamite and nitroglycerin

Swedish industrialist, engineer, and inventor,

Alfred Nobel built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. His construction work
inspired Nobel to research new methods of blasting rock. In 1860, the inventor
first started experimenting with nitroglycerine.

The Nobel Patent Detonator - Blasting Cap

In 1863, Alfred Nobel invented the Nobel patent detonator or blasting cap for
detonating nitroglycerin. The Nobel patent detonator used a strong shock rather
than heat combustion to ignite the explosives. The Nobel Company built the first
factory to manufacture nitroglycerin and dynamite.

Nitroglycerin and Dynamite

Nitroglycerin was first invented by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1846. In its
natural liquid state, nitroglycerin is very volatile. Alfred Nobel understood this and
in 1866 he discovered that mixing nitroglycerine with silica would turn the liquid
into a malleable paste, called dynamite. One advantage of dynamite over
nitroglycerin was that it could be cylinder-shaped for insertion into the drilling
holes used for mining.

Patenting of Dynamite
In 1867, Nobel received U.S. patent number 78,317 for his dynamite. To be able
to detonate the dynamite rods, Nobel also improved his detonator (blasting cap)
so that it could be ignited by lighting a fuse.
In 1875, Nobel invented blasting gelatine in Paris and patented it in 1876. In 1887, he
was granted a French patent for blasting powder "ballistite".

Biography
On October 21, 1833 Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His family
moved to St. Petersburg in Russia when he was nine years old. Nobel prided
himself on the many countries he lived in during his lifetime and considered
himself a world citizen.
In 1864, Albert Nobel founded Nitroglycerin AB in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1865, he built
the Alfred Nobel & Co. Factory in Krmmel near Hamburg, Germany. In 1866, he
established the United States Blasting Oil Company in the U.S. In 1870, he established
the Socit gnral pour la fabrication de la dynamite in Paris, France.
When he died in 1896, Alfred Nobel left behind a nine million dollar endowment fund.
The Nobel prize is awarded yearly to people whose work helps humanity. In total, Alfred
Nobel held three hundred and fifty-five patents in the fields of electrochemistry, optics,
biology, and physiology.

Nitroglycerine and Dynamite

Nitroglycerine is an explosive liquid which was first made by Ascanio

Sobrero in 1846 by treating glycerol with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric
acid. The reaction which follows is highly exothermic, i.e. it generates heat
and will result in an explosion of nitroglycerine, unless the mixture is cooled
while the reaction is taking place. Liquid nitroglycerine is colorless if pure.
It is soluble in alcohols but insoluble in water. Nitroglycerine is extremely
sensitive to shock and in the early days, when impure nitroglycerine was
used, it was very difficult to predict under which conditions nitroglycerine
would explode. Alfred Nobel studied these problems in detail, and was the
first to produce nitroglycerine on an industrial scale. His first major
invention was a blasting cap (igniter), a wooden plug filled with black
gunpowder, which could be detonated by lighting a fuse. This in turn,
caused
an
explosion
of
the
surrounding
nitroglycerine.
Alfred Nobel worked hard to improve nitroglycerine as an explosive that
could be used in blasting rock and in mining. He made one of his most
important discoveries when he found that by mixing nitroglycerine, an oily
fluid, with kieselguhr, the mixture could be turned into a paste. This
material could be kneaded and shaped into rods suitable for insertion into
drilling holes. He called his paste dynamite and went on to develop a
blasting cap which could be used to detonate dynamite under controlled
conditions.

A Short History Of Explosives

It may never be known with certainty who invented black powder, the first explosive. The
mixture is thought to have originated in China in the 9th century, but its use there was almost
exclusively in fireworks and signals. It is possible that the Chinese also used black powder in
bombs for military purposes. There is written record that in the mid-13th century, they put it in
bamboo tubes to propel stone projectiles.

Some evidence suggests that the Arabs invented black powder, and by about 1300 had developed
the first real gun, a bamboo tube reinforced with iron, which used a charge of black powder to
fire an arrow.

Some scholars attribute the discovery of black power to the English medieval scholar, Roger
Bacon, while others attribute the invention of firearms to the early 14th-century German monk
Berthold Schwarz. In any case, firearms are frequently mentioned in 14th-century manuscripts
from many countries, and there is a record of the shipment of guns and powder from Ghent to
England in 1314.

By the 17th century, black powder came to be used in Europe for peaceful purposes, such as in
mining operations in Germany and Hungary. For various reasons, such as high cost, lack of
suitable boring implements, and fear of roof collapse, the use of black powder in mining did not
spread rapidly, though it was widely accepted by 1700. The first application in civil engineering
was in the Malpas Tunnel of the Canal du Midi in France in 1679.

For 300 years, the unvarying composition of black powder has been approximately 75 percent
saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulfur. Lammot du Pont, an
American industrialist, started making sodium nitrate powder in 1858. It became popular in a
short time because, though it did not produce as high a quality explosive as potassium nitrate, it
was suitable for most mining and construction applications and was much less expensive.

Nitroglycerin, the most powerful explosive in common use, was discovered in 1846 by the
Italian scientist Ascanio Sobrero. Although used as a headache remedy under the name glonoin,
it proved too difficult and dangerous for practical blasting purposes until Alfred Nobel of
Sweden began his experiments in 1862. Nobel's brother died in an explosion during the tests, and
Nobel was forced to move his laboratory to a barge anchored out in the middle of a lake. Nobel
refused to abandon his labors, however, and in 1866, he was rewarded by the invention of

dynamite. This is today the commonest and safest of the high explosives, for the first time
enabling man to blast away great masses of rock and other obstacles with comparative safety.

Dynamite consists of a mixture of the liquid nitroglycerin with some absorbent substance, or
"dope," giving it a solid form. Ordinary dynamite is usually made in sticks from 1 to 2 inches
(2.5 to 5 centimeters) in diameter and about 8 inches (20 centimeters) long. These consist of
brown paper wrappers coated with paraffin to keep out moisture. If a small quantity is set on fire
free from pressure or vibration of any kind, it will burn, but, if the least blow strikes it while
burning, it will explode with great violence. Dynamite is usually set off with a detonator, or
blasting cap.

Destructive in nature, explosives are also of immense value in many peaceful pursuits, such as in
mining, quarrying, and engineering enterprises and in making fireworks, signal lights, and
rockets. They are used to project lifelines to ships in distress off storm-beaten shores or to the
roofs of burning buildings; to cast oil upon rough seas; and to break up ice jams. When pile
drivers are not available, their work can be done by exploding dynamite on an iron plate placed
on top of the piles. Farmers find explosives useful for breaking up boulders, blowing out stumps,
felling trees, and loosening soil.

Explosives are sometimes used to bond various metals to each other. For example, when silver
was removed from United States coinage, much of the so-called sandwich metal that replaced it
was obtained by the explosive bonding of large slabs, which were then rolled down to the
required thickness. These slabs are placed parallel to each other and approximately 0.25 inch (6.4
millimeters) apart. An explosive developed especially for the purpose is placed on the top slab,
and its detonation slams the slabs together with such force that they become welded. Stainless
steel is often joined to ordinary steel in this manner.

Finally, the very fine industrial-type diamonds used for grinding and polishing are produced by
the carefully controlled action of explosives on carbon.

Excerpted from information provided at http://www.sonic.net/