Dynamite

Dynamite, high explosive invented by Alfred Nobel (1866), consisting of nitroglycerin absorbed in an inert material such as kieselguhr (a chalky earth) or wood pulp. Unlike nitroglycerin itself, it can be handled safely, and does not explode without a detonator. In modern dynamite sodium nitrate replaces about half the nitroglycerin. Gelatin dynamite, or gelignite, also contains some nitrocellulose.

See also: Explosive; Nobel, Alfred Bernhard; TNT.