Dynamite

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the high explosive. For other uses, see Dynamite (disambiguation).

Blasting cap.
  • Electrical cable (or fuse
    • ) connected to the blasting cap.
    Preparation of dynamite during the construction of the Douglas Dam, 1942.

    Dynamite is an

    black powder
    explosives. It allows the use of nitroglycerine's favorable explosive properties while greatly reducing its risk of accidental detonation.

    History

    "Nobels extradynamit" manufactured by Nobel's old company, Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget
    Women mixing dynamite at Nobel's Ardeer factory, 1897

    Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist

    black powder
    .

    Alfred Nobel's father,

    sent abroad for two years; in the United States he met Swedish engineer John Ericsson and in France studied under famed chemist Théophile-Jules Pelouze and his pupil Ascanio Sobrero, who had first synthesized nitroglycerin in 1847. Pelouze cautioned Nobel against using nitroglycerine as a commercial explosive because of its great sensitivity to shock.[2]

    In 1857, Nobel filed the first of several hundred patents, mostly concerning air pressure, gas and fluid gauges, but remained fascinated with nitroglycerin's potential as an explosive. Nobel, along with his father and brother Emil, experimented with various combinations of nitroglycerin and black powder. Nobel came up with a way to safely detonate nitroglycerin by inventing the detonator, or blasting cap, that allowed a controlled explosion set off from a distance using a fuse. In 1863 Nobel performed his first successful detonation of pure nitroglycerin, using a blasting cap made of a copper percussion cap and mercury fulminate. In 1864, Alfred Nobel filed patents for both the blasting cap and his method of synthesizing nitroglycerin, using sulfuric acid, nitric acid and glycerin. On 3 September 1864, while experimenting with nitroglycerin, Emil and several others were killed in an explosion at the factory at Immanuel Nobel's estate at Heleneborg. After this, Alfred founded the company Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget in Vinterviken to continue work in a more isolated area and the following year moved to Germany, where he founded another company, Dynamit Nobel.[2]

    Despite the invention of the blasting cap, the instability of nitroglycerin rendered it useless as a commercial explosive. To solve this problem, Nobel sought to combine it with another substance that would make it safe for transport and handling but would not reduce its effectiveness as an explosive. He tried combinations of cement, coal, and sawdust, but was unsuccessful. Finally, he tried diatomaceous earth, which is fossilized algae, that he brought from the Elbe River near his factory in Hamburg, which successfully stabilized the nitroglycerin into a portable explosive.[2]

    Nobel obtained patents for his inventions in England on 7 May 1867 and in Sweden on 19 October 1867.[3] After its introduction, dynamite rapidly gained wide-scale use as a safe alternative to black powder and nitroglycerin. Nobel tightly controlled the patents, and unlicensed duplicating companies were quickly shut down. A few American businessmen got around the patent by using absorbents other than diatomaceous earth, such as resin.[4]

    Nobel originally sold dynamite as "Nobel's Blasting Powder" and later changed the name to dynamite, from the Ancient Greek word dýnamis (δύναμις), meaning "power".[5][6]

    Manufacture

    Form

    Dynamite is usually sold in the form of cardboard cylinders about 200 mm (8 in) long and about 32 mm (1+1⁄4 in) in diameter, with a mass of about 190 grams (1⁄2 troy pound).

    megajoule) of energy.[8]
    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 storage medium mixed with the stabilizer and any additives).

    Storage considerations

    The maximum shelf life of nitroglycerin-based dynamite is recommended as one year from the date of manufacture under good storage conditions.[7]

    Over time, regardless of the sorbent used, sticks of dynamite will "weep" or "sweat" nitroglycerin, which can then pool in the bottom of the box or storage area. For that reason, explosive manuals recommend the regular up-ending of boxes of dynamite in storage. Crystals will form on the outside of the sticks, causing them to be even more sensitive to shock, friction, and temperature. Therefore, while the risk of an explosion without the use of a

    blasting cap is minimal for fresh dynamite, old dynamite is dangerous.[citation needed
    ] Modern packaging helps eliminate this by placing the dynamite into sealed plastic bags and using wax-coated cardboard.

    Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kg (1 and 22 lb) is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.

    mercury fulminate
    detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dynamite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50 cm.

    Major manufacturers

    Advertisement for the Ætna Explosives Company of New York.

    South Africa

    For several decades beginning in the 1940s, the largest producer of dynamite in the world was the Union of South Africa. There the De Beers company established a factory in 1902 at Somerset West. The explosives factory was later operated by AECI (African Explosives and Chemical Industries). The demand for the product came mainly from the country's vast gold mines, centered on the Witwatersrand. The factory at Somerset West was in operation in 1903 and by 1907 it was already producing 340,000 cases, 23 kilograms (50 lb) each, annually. A rival factory at Modderfontein was producing another 200,000 cases per year.[10]

    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 ammonium nitrate emulsion-based explosives that are safer to manufacture and handle.[11]

    United States

    Dynamite was first manufactured in the US by the

    DuPont, which produced dynamite under the Giant name until Giant was dissolved by DuPont in 1905.[12]
    Thereafter, DuPont produced dynamite under its own name until 1911–12, when its explosives monopoly was broken up by the U.S. Circuit Court in the "Powder Case". Two new companies were formed upon the breakup, the
    Hercules Powder Company and the Atlas Powder Company
    , which took up the manufacture of dynamite (in different formulations).

    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 labels on the dynamite and boxes.

    Non-dynamite explosives

    Other explosives are often referred to or confused with dynamite:

    TNT

    black powder) as TNT, because the acronym was shorter and more memorable and did not require literacy to recognize that TNT meant "bomb".[citation needed
    ]

    Aside from both being high explosives, TNT and dynamite have little in common. TNT is a second generation

    combat engineers
    .

    "Extra" dynamite

    In the United States, in 1885, the chemist Russell S. Penniman invented "ammonium dynamite", a form of explosive that used ammonium nitrate as a substitute for the more costly nitroglycerin. Ammonium nitrate has only 85% of the chemical energy of nitroglycerin.[15]

    It is rated by either "weight strength" (the amount of ammonium 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 explosive). For example, high-explosive 65% Extra dynamite has a weight strength of 65% ammonium nitrate and 35% "dope" (the absorbent medium mixed with the stabilizers 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% ammonium dynamite with a 20% cartridge strength would mean the stick was equal to an equivalent weight strength of 20% ANFO.

    "Military dynamite"

    "Military dynamite" (or M1 dynamite) is a dynamite substitute made with more stable ingredients than nitroglycerin.[16] It contains 75% RDX, 15% TNT and 10 percent desensitizers and plasticizers. It has only has 60 percent equivalent strength as commercial dynamite, but is much safer to store and handle.[17]

    Regulation

    Main article:
    Explosive material § Regulation

    Various countries around the world have enacted explosives laws and require licenses to manufacture, distribute, store, use, and possess explosives or ingredients.

    See also

    References

    1. ^ Liepens, R. (1974). "Characteristics of Non-Military Explosives" (PDF). DEFENSE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CENTER. Research Triangle Institute, National Technical Information Service, U. S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
    2. ^ a b c "Alfred Nobel – Dynamit" (in Swedish). Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
    3. ^ Schück & Sohlman (1929), p. 101.
    4. ^ US Patent 234489 issued to Morse 16 November 1880
    5. ^ "dynamite". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2003. Archived from the original on 20 May 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
    6. ^ "dynamite". Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged. HarperCollins. 2003 [1991]. Archived from the original on 20 May 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
    7. ^ a b "Austin Powder Guide, Dynamite series page 2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
    8. ^ ChemViews (28 November 2012). "145 Years of Dynamite". Chemistry Views. ChemViews Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
    9. ISBN 90-5410-199-7
    10. ^ "Home". Chemical & Allied Industries' Association. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
    11. ^ "Historical Highlights 1980's". 30 June 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
    12. ^ "The Federal Reporter with Key-Number Annotations, Volume 188: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and Circuit and District Courts of the United States, August-October, 1911". UNT Digital Library. 8 May 1911. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
    13. ISBN 978-3-527-32009-7
      .
    14. ^ Gibbs, T. R. & Popolato, A. LASL Explosive Property Data. Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. United States Department of Energy, 1980.
    15. ^ "FHWA - Center for Local Aid Support - Publications". www.fhwa.dot.gov. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
    16. ISBN 978-0-615-14794-9. Archived
      from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
    17. ^ Jones, Jeffrey (19 October 2017). U.S. Marine Corps School Of Infantry SOI Complete Training Materials. Jeffrey Frank Jones. pp. AM1401-6.

    Further reading

    External links

    Look up dynamite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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