PHOTO: Construction workers (missouri.edu)
Dynamite, invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Noble in 1866, became the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder (gunpowder).
Noble’s father, unsatisfied by how little rock black powder could blast away at a time, inspired Noble to create dynamite. When Noble turned 17, his parents sent him to the U.S. to study under the famed chemist Theophile- Jules Pelouze and his assistant Ascanio Sobrero. This is where he encountered the possibility of creating a new, stronger explosive using nitroglycerin.
Although Swedish, Noble invented dynamite in Germany. In 1867, Germany patented the new explosive.
Nowadays, construction workers use dynamite to demolish condemned buildings. They get backlash from the people who think construction workers have a poor education. However, this is not true because construction workers have to learn the science behind dynamite and train on how to use it safely. Many people don’t know or understand how dynamite is made, what’s inside of it, or how dangerous it can become in the wrong hands.
Nitroglycerin has a high nitrogen content and contains sufficient oxygen atoms to oxidize the carbon and hydrogen atoms, so that it is one of the most powerful explosives known. Full of potential, Nitroglycerin couldn’t be used because of its instability. Even the smallest disruption would make it explode. With it being so sensitive and unstable, it would detonate if knocked too hard. Nitroglycerin would explode so easily because any amount of friction would start a chemical reaction that heats it into a gas then explodes. This all happens at 22.9 times the speed of sound (17000 mph).
To solve this problem, Noble invented the detonator or blasting cap. This allowed for the explosive to be detonated from a safe distance away with a fuse.
This great improvement took an unfortunate turn because many accidents still occurred due to the instability of nitroglycerin. To solve yet another problem, Noble tried different materials like coal and sawdust to absorb the nitroglycerin. Unsuccessful, he tried diatomaceous earth (fossilized algae) which did finally absorb it and prevent it from self detonating.
Noble named dynamite after dynamis, the Greek word for power.
Dynamite is often confused with TNT because they are both explosives. TNT however is much different because TNT is an actual compound called trinitrotoluene. TNT is one of the most popular explosive compounds. The energy released in an explosion of 1 gram of TNT is approximately 4000 joules (338 foot blast radius)
Many people know little to nothing about dynamite, but they should learn the history of inventions that interest them. It’s also important to not assume. A professional construction worker may know something about dynamite, and you can’t assume that it’s simple. You don’t already know how it works if you didn’t read the history on it.
People may not think that a construction worker is just as important as a doctor because the doctor gets paid more. This may cause people to unintentionally offend professionals by making them feel subordinate to those they are serving. This leads people to challenge and undermine professionals with licenses to important work.
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