Whose brainchild was dynamite? 

If you hear about Alfred Nobel, what comes to your mind? The man behind the world’s most coveted academic honour, the Nobel Prize! But guess what, other than being the namesake behind the prestigious award, Nobel is also well known for a number of inventions. For instance, this Swedish industrialist cum engineer was the one responsible for erecting many buildings and bridges in his country’s capital Stockholm. And perhaps, it was his knack in the world of construction that led him to find new methods of blasting rock. And this in turn led to the birth of dynamite, the world’s most sought-after explosive.  

Experiment with nitroglycerin 
A chemical substance named nitroglycerin was invented by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1846. A few years later in 1860, while looking for easier techniques to blast rock for construction, Alfred Nobel came upon the chemical and after a series of experiments realised that in its liquid state, it was highly volatile. This is when he decided to put it to his advantage and used it at construction sites. But to his dismay, the substance failed to execute. Why? Because it was too flowy in nature and was highly sensitive to shock. 

Nobel invents dynamite 
In 1863, while still experimenting with nitroglycerin, Nobel realised that although the substance was not as potent as he had thought it to be, it still deserved another chance. This is when he developed a detonator or a blasting cap that used a strong electrical shock rather than the usual heat combustion to ignite the explosive. Realising his venture was a success, Nobel founded the Nobel Company where nitroglycerin and its detonator starting being produced in bulk.  

However, Nobel was still unhappy that he couldn’t form a better explosive out of nitroglycerin. As fate would have it, in 1866, he accidentally mixed silica with nitroglycerin and it instantly resulted into a malleable paste. When Nobel decided to try it out just for fun, it ‘blew’ his mind. Using nitroglycerin’s detonator, when the malleable paste was fired up, there was a never-seen-before result. Nearly a mile of everything in sight was destroyed. And this is how dynamite was born. Looks like, people who like to blow things up have to thank Alfred Nobel.  

Not only was dynamite super powerful, but it was so malleable that it could easily be turned into any shape, especially cylindrical rods. In fact, such dynamite rods when equipped with stabilisers proved to be immensely beneficial while drilling holes during mining. After Nobel received his US patent for dynamite, he also ended up modifying his detonator. It was made in such a way that it could be ignited by simply lighting up a fuse from far away. No wonder dynamite is still deemed as the first ever safely manageable explosive.  

Fun fact: Dynamite was originally named ‘Nobel’s Blasting Powder’ but was later renamed when Nobel came upon the Ancient Greek word ‘dynamis’ meaning ‘power.’  

Alternatives to dynamite 
In 1875, Nobel was still experimenting with nitroglycerin hoping that he would end up inventing something similar and amazing such as dynamite. And he did! He invented blasting gelatin, which was more stable and potent than dynamite. 13 years later, he also came up with ballistite, which was a smokeless blasting powder that Nobel made by combing nitrocellulose with nitroglycerin. It acted as the ultimate substitute for black gunpowder and is till date used as solid fuel rocket propellent.