Who invented dynamite? Detailed analysis

The article tells about who invented dynamite, about the properties of this substance, its application, why it was abandoned to please other explosives.

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As it often happens, peaceful inventions find their application in military affairs. A vivid example is gunpowder. Originally used as a fill for fireworks and even medicine, in the Middle Ages it was used in the first guns, and even later - as a means of destroying fortresses and bridges.

So it was until the second half of the XIX century. It was then that physicist Alfred Nobel came up with a method for absorbing nitroglycerin with other substances. He was the one who invented dynamite. But what is the relationship between it and glycerol nitrate?

The thing is that nitroglycerin was synthesized even earlier, and it was planned to use it as a substitute for gunpowder as an explosive, because it was much more powerful and effective. But he had the other side - monstrously strong instability. He could explode from anything - shock, temperature drop, loud sound, sunlight, etc.

When asked who invented dynamite, one can often hear in response the story that Nobel had it by accident. The scientist himself rejected this fact. He purposely sought ways to create stable nitroglycerin compounds by using charcoal, brick dust, clay and the like as an absorbent (absorbent material). But the best results showed kieselguhr - a special rock. After impregnating with glycerol nitrate and drying, the harmless powder turned into a powerful, and most importantly, stable explosive. So with the one who invented dynamite, we sorted it out, it's Alfred Nobel. But why did this substance become so popular?

Properties

Gunpowder, the main explosive in those years, had a number of shortcomings. One of them is a low burning rate, as a result, for example, for rock explosion, a large number of it was required, and efficiency was low. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite as a new explosive, much stronger than gunpowder, but safer than nitroglycerin. In fact, they can impregnate almost all materials, even ordinary earth, and it will acquire the ability to explode, but diatomaceous earth was the best.

Later, in an attempt to improve the properties of this new explosive, Nobel created the so-called rattling jelly, or collodion-dynamite, which had a gelatinous state. But he did not receive much spreading.

In which year did Nobel invent dynamite?

There are several dates, but if you take as a basis the moment of obtaining a patent, then this is 1867.

After the start of production, this explosive was very widespread, and was very fond of mining and construction companies, to a lesser extent - armies around the world.

Miners used dynamite as a substitute for gunpowder. Compared with him, he was much more powerful, easily crushed hard rock layers and took up less space. It looked like small cardboard tubes filled with fuses.

Nobel also was fortunate to establish the production of dynamite in a good time. In those years, all developed countries of the world conducted their grandiose construction and mining operations, for example, the properties of the new substance were appreciated for the construction of railways in the US and later - the Panama Canal.

In the military sector, it was not so widely used, since although it was more stable than nitroglycerin, it still had a detonation attitude as a result of inaccurate handling, and was not suitable as a filler for shells. But still a short time was used in this capacity in pneumatic artillery. So now it is known who invented and first used dynamite - Alfred Nobel.

Modernity

At present, this explosive is completely out of use. It happened in the first years of the XIX century, when it was replaced by picric acid, and then it was also tinted, which for many years became the main explosive. The latter was even more stable and resistant to accidental detonation. It can even be burned without fear.

And yet dynamite played an important role in the process of great construction and industrialization, its name became almost a common name, and anyone can recognize the classic appearance.