Dynamite

This article is about the high explosive. For other uses, bel in Geesthacht, and patented in 1867. It rapidly gained
see Dynamite (disambiguation). wide-scale use as a safer alternative to gun powder and
nitroglycerin.

1 Invention, purpose, and use

Diagram Nobels ExtraDynamite manufactured by Nobels old company,

Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget.
1. Diatomaceous earth (or any other type of absorbent mate-
rial) soaked in nitroglycerin. Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel and was the rst
2. Protective coating surrounding the explosive material. safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder.
Nobel obtained patents for his invention in England on 7
3. Blasting cap.
May 1867, in Sweden on 19 October 1867.[1] After its
4. Electrical cable (or fuse) connected to the blasting cap. introduction, dynamite rapidly gained wide-scale use as
a safe alternative to black powder and nitroglycerin. No-
bel tightly controlled the patents, and unlicensed duplicat-
ing companies were quickly shut down. However, a few
American businessmen got around the patent by using a
slightly dierent formula.[2]
Nobel originally sold dynamite as Nobels Blasting Pow-
der but decided to change the name to dynamite, from
the Ancient Greek word dnamis, meaning
power.[3][4]
An industrialist, engineer, and inventor, Alfred Nobels
father, Immanuel Nobel, built bridges and buildings in
Stockholm. His construction work inspired him to re-
search new methods of blasting rock. Immanuels work
with explosives later on inspired Alfred to make ex-
plosives safer and more eective. Today dynamite is
Preparation of dynamite during the construction of the Douglas mainly used in the mining, quarrying, construction, and
Dam, 1942. demolition industries. Dynamite is still the product of
choice for trenching applications, and as a cost-eective
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents alternative to cast boosters. Dynamite is occasionally
(such as powdered shells or clay) and stabilizers. It was used as an initiator or booster for AN and ANFO explo-
invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred No- sive charges.

1
2 2 MANUFACTURE

2 Manufacture helps eliminate this by placing the dynamite into sealed

plastic bags, and using wax coated cardboard.
2.1 Composition Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resis-
tance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer:
Nitroglycerin by itself is a very strong explosive, but is ex- about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon
tremely shock-sensitive (that is, physical shock can cause which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kg is dropped from
it to explode), and degrades over time to even more unsta- dierent heights until detonation is achieved.[6] With a
ble forms, which makes it highly dangerous to transport hammer of 2 kg, mercury fulminate detonates with a drop
or use. Dynamite combines nitroglycerin with adsorbents distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dyna-
and stabilizers, rendering it safe to use, but retaining the mite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with
powerful explosive properties of nitroglycerin. 40 to 50 cm.
The original composition of dynamite consisted of
three parts Explosive Oil (nitroglycerin), one part
diatomaceous earth as the absorbent, and a small ad-
2.4 Major manufacturers
mixture of sodium carbonate antacid as the stabilizer.
Ethylene glycol dinitrate was later added to the nitroglyc-
erin to lower its freezing point and keep it from freezing
into a slush at low temperatures, which made it unstable,
or from sweating out when it thawed. Diatomaceous earth
is not usually used today as an absorbent medium and it
has been replaced by cheaper media like sawdust, wood
pulp, our, or starch. Other stabilizers like calcium car-
bonate or zinc oxide can be used in the place of sodium
carbonate. Sodium nitrate is added to the medium as an
oxidizer that improves the dynamites brisance.

2.2 Form

Dynamite is usually sold in the form of cardboard cylin-

ders about 20 cm (8 in) long and about 3.2 cm (1.25 in)
in diameter, with a weight of about 190 grams (1 2 troy
pound).[5] A stick of dynamite thus produced contains
roughly 1 MJ of energy. Other sizes also exist, rated by
either portion (Quarter-Stick or Half-Stick) or by weight.
Dynamite is usually rated by weight strength (the
amount of nitroglycerin it contains), usually from 20%
to 60%. For example, 40% dynamite is composed of
40% nitroglycerin and 60% dope (the absorbent stor-
age medium mixed with the stabilizer and any additives).
Advertisement for the Aetna Explosives Company of New York.

2.3 Storage considerations

2.4.1 South Africa
The maximum shelf life of nitroglycerin-based dynamite
is recommended as one year from the date of manufacture For several decades beginning in the 1940s, the largest
under good storage conditions.[5] producer of dynamite in the world was the Union of
Over time, regardless of the sorbent used, sticks of dyna- South Africa. There the De Beers company established
mite will weep or sweat nitroglycerin, which can then a factory in 1902 at Somerset West. The explosives fac-
pool in the bottom of the box or storage area. For that rea- tory was later operated by AECI (African Explosives and
son, explosive manuals recommend the repeated turning Chemical Industries). The demand for the product came
over of boxes of dynamite in storage. Crystals will form mainly from the countrys vast gold mines, centered on
on the outside of the sticks causing them to be even more the Witwatersrand. The factory at Somerset West was
shock, friction, and temperature sensitive. This creates in operation in 1903 and by 1907 it was already produc-
a very dangerous situation. While the risk of an explo- ing 340,000 cases, 23 kilograms (50 lb) each, annually.
sion without the use of a blasting cap is minimal for fresh A rival factory at Modderfontein was producing another
dynamite, old dynamite is dangerous. Modern packaging 200,000 cases per year.[7]
3.3 Military dynamite
There were two large explosions at the Somerset West
plant during the 1960s. Some workers died, but the loss
of life was limited by the modular design of the factory
and its earth works, and the planting of trees that directed
the blasts upward. There were several other explosions at
the Modderfontein factory. After 1985, pressure from
trade unions forced AECI to phase out the production of
dynamite. The factory then went on to produce ammo-
nium nitrate emulsion-based explosives that are safer to
manufacture and handle.[8]
2.4.2 United States
Dynamite was manufactured by the E. I. du Pont de
Nemours Company until the mid-1970s. Other Amer-
ican dynamite makers of that time period included the
Hercules Corporation, Atlas, Trojan US Powder, Austin,
and several other smaller rms.
Currently only Dyno Nobel manufactures dynamite in the
US. The only facility producing it is located in Carthage,
Missouri, but the material is purchased from Dyno Nobel
by other manufacturers, who put their label on the dyna-
mite and boxes.
3 Non-dynamite explosives
Other explosives are often referred to or confused with bel, who had also invented dynamite.[1] Unlike dynamite,
dynamite:
3.1 TNT
Though both TNT and dynamite are high explosives,
there is little similarity between them. Dynamite is a sta-
bilized form of nitroglycerin while TNT is the chemical
compound trinitrotoluene. The energy density (measured
in units of joules per kilogram, symbol J/kg) of dynamite
is approximately 125% that of TNT: 5.0 MJ/kg for dyna- 4 Regulation
mite vs 4.0 MJ/kg of TNT.
3.2 Extra dynamite
In the United States, in 1885, the chemist Russell S. Pen- sives laws and require licenses to manufacture, distribute,
niman invented ammonium dynamite, a form of explo- store, use, possess explosives or ingredients.
sive that used ammonium nitrate as a substitute for the
more costly nitroglycerin. Ammonium nitrate has only
85% of the chemical energy of nitroglycerin.
It is rated by either weight strength (the amount of am-
monium nitrate in the medium) or cartridge strength
(the potential explosive strength generated by an amount
of explosive of a certain density and grain size used in
comparison to the explosive strength generated by an
equivalent density and grain size of a standard explo-
sive). For example, high-explosive 65% Extra Dynamite
has a weight strength of 65% ammonium nitrate and 35%
3
dope (the absorbent medium mixed with the stabiliz-
ers and additives). Its cartridge strength would be its
weight in pounds times its strength in relation to an equal
amount of ANFO (the civilian baseline standard) or TNT
(the military baseline standard). For example, 65% am-
monium dynamite with a 20% cartridge strength would
mean the stick was equal to an equivalent weight strength
of 20% ANFO.
3.3 Military dynamite
Military dynamite is a dynamite substitute, formulated
without nitroglycerin. It contains 75% RDX, 15% TNT,
5% SAE 10 motor oil, and 5% cornstarch, but much
safer to store and handle for long periods than Nobels
dynamite.[9] Military dynamite achieves greater stability
by avoiding the use of nitroglycerin and uses much more
stable chemicals.[10]
3.4 Gelignite
Also known as blasting gelatin or simply jelly, is an ex-
plosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of
nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in either nitroglyc-
erine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and salt-
petre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate).
It was invented in 1875 by Swedish chemist Alfred No-
gelignite does not suer from the dangerous problem of
sweating, the leaking of unstable nitroglycerine from the
solid matrix. Its composition makes it easily moldable
and safe to handle without protection, as long as it is not
near anything capable of detonating it. One of the cheap-
est explosives, it burns slowly and cannot explode without
a detonator, so it can be stored safely.[2]
Main article: Explosive material Regulation
Various countries around the world have enacted explo-
5 See also
Blast shing
Blasting machine
Dynamite gun
Nobel Prize
Relative eectiveness factor
4 8 EXTERNAL LINKS

6 References
[1] Schck & Sohlman (1929), p. 101.
[2] US Patent 234489 issued to Morse 16 November 1880
[3] dynamite. The American Heritage Dictio-
nary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
2003. Houghton Miin Company 19 March 2013
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dynamite
[4] dynamite. Collins English Dictionary Complete
and Unabridged. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003.
HarperCollins Publishers 19 March 2013 http://www.
thefreedictionary.com/dynamite
[5] Austin Powder Guide, Dynamite series page 2 (PDF).
Retrieved 2012-06-09.
[6] Carlos Lpez Jimeno, Emilio Lpez Jimeno, Francisco
Javier Ayala-Carcedo, Drilling and Blasting of Rocks,
translated by Yvonne Visser de Ramiro from Manual de
perforacin y voladura de rocas (1987), Geomining Tech-
nological Institute of Spain (Instituto Tecnolgico Ge-
ominero de Espan~a), Taylor & Francis, London and New
York, 1995, ISBN 90-5410-199-7
[7] AECI: South Africa - History of the Chemical Industry
[8] Historical Highlights 1980s. Web.archive.org. 30 June
2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. Re-
trieved 2012-06-09.
[9] Unexploded Ordnance Information: Ordnance Fillers.
Uxoinfo.com. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
[10] Ledgard, Jared (2007). A Soldiers Handbook, Volume 1:
Explosives Operations. ISBN 0-615-14794-1.

7 Further reading
Cartwright, A. P. (1964). The Dynamite Company:
The Story of African Explosives and Chemical Indus-
tries Limited. Cape Town: Purnell & Sons (S.A.)
(Pty) Ltd.
Schck, H. and Sohlman, R. (1929). The Life of
Alfred Nobel. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

8 External links
Alfred Nobel
Oregon State Police Arson and Explosives Section
(Handling instructions and photos)
Detonator cables
US patent 78317, Alfred Nobel, Improved explo-
sive compound, issued 1868-05-26
Dynamite and TNT at The Periodic Table of Videos
(University of Nottingham)
 5

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text
Dynamite Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite?oldid=765801722 Contributors: TwoOneTwo, Derek Ross, Bryan Derksen,
Taral, Rjstott, Ed Poor, Andre Engels, Rmhermen, Youandme, Edward, RTC, Mtmsmile, Kevinbasil, Liftarn, Ixfd64, Dori, Iluvcapra,
Egil, Ahoerstemeier, Dean p foster, Kingturtle, Julesd, Glenn, Cyan, Mulad, Agtx, Doradus, Tpbradbury, Furrykef, Indefatigable, Pollina-
tor, Robbot, Chris 73, Jredmond, Donreed, Romanm, Meelar, Hadal, Wikibot, Raeky, Rsduhamel, Vaoverland, Matt Gies, DocWat-
son42, Tom harrison, TorreFernando, Everyking, Curps, CyborgTosser, Maver1ck, Quadell, Antandrus, Beland, JoJan, Kaldari, Ot,
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6 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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