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Dynamite contains a mixture of explosives, including nitroglycerin, ammonium nitrate, and sodium nitrate, absorbed in inert material such as sawdust .
The original explosive in dynamite was nitroglycerin. The extreme sensitivity of the liquid explosive meant it was very difficult to use. Nobel manufactured and sold the liquid but the danger was such that it was widely banned in Europe. Nobel solved this problem by absorbing the nitroglycerine in a certain type of soil, a "diatomaceous earth" called Kieselguhr, forming the mixture into short sticks and wrapping them in paper to form dynamite. Since Nobel's breakthrough, a variety of absorbents have been used, including sawdust and silica.
A dynamite stick is roughly 8 inches long and 1 inch in diameter, although there can be sticks in almost any size. Dynamite is very safe compared to nitroglycerin, it is insensitive to impact, friction or shock - a stick can even be placed in a fire, where it will burn but not explode. To be exploded blasting cap s or similar must be used.
However, during long-term storage, old dynamite will 'sweat', the nitroglycerin will pass out of the absorbent to form drops of pure liquid on the surface of the stick. This is a serious safety hazard, and it has led to a decrease in the popularity of dynamite in recent years.
Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel of Sweden in 1867. This laid the foundation for an enormous fortune for Nobel, who later founded the Nobel Prize. Nobel had very tight controls over the patent, and unlicensed replicas were quickly shut down, although a few American businessmen got around the patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally 20 years from the filing date). The term "patent" originates from the term patere which means to lay open (to public inspectio by using a slightly different formula.
The word dynamite comes from the GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce word δυναμις (dunamis), meaning power, and the SwedishSwedish svenska is a language spoken principally in Sweden, Finland finlandsvenska , Aland and in the coastland of Estonia estlandssvenska . Swedish is classified as a member of the East section of the Scandinavian languages, a sub-group of the Germanic g suffix -it. Nobel sold it as "Nobel's Safety Blasting Powder".
On occasion criminals interested in safe-cracking have deliberately extracted nitroglycerin from dynamite; in the past, this was by the extraordinarily dangerous expedient of boiling up the sticks and 'skimming' the nitroglycerin as it was forced out.
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