An explosive substance consisting of nitroglycerin absorbed by some inert, porous solid, as infusorial earth, sawdust, etc. It is safer than nitroglycerin, being less liable to explosion from moderate shocks, or from spontaneous decomposition.
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Dynamite
Encyclopedia Britannica
DYNAMITE (δwα∕u9, strength), the name applied to various explosive preparations containing nitroglycerin. The first practical application of nitroglycerin, discovered by Sobrero in 1847, was made by Alfred Nobel, who in 1863 used gunpowder soaked with it forblasting. In 1864 he found that it could be exploded by the initiative detonation of fulminating materials; and in 1867, owing to the uncertainty and danger attending its employment, he conceived the idea of mixing it with some solid and absorbent inert substance. The siliceous infusorial earth called in Germany Kieselguhr proved to be well adapted for this purpose, since it took up as much as three times its weight of nitroglycerin without becoming more than damp to the touch. The mixture of earth and nitroglycerin, to which was added a little alkaline material to neutralize any acid that might be set free by the latter, was termed by Nobel dynamite. Ignited in the open air, dynamite burns slowly, but it is as readily exploded as nitroglycerin itself by means of a detonating fuze; and, though not equal in bursting or breaking power to uncombined nitroglycerin, on accouut of the absorption by its inert constituents of part of the heat developed by the exploding shock, it is greatly superior to gunpowder, instead of which or gun-cotton it is employed in blasting coal and stone, removing piles, felling trees, and clearing stumps from forest-land. It may also be used with advantage for the destruction of cannon and for breaking up large iron castings (see Compt. rend., lxxii. 770). For filling bore-holes its pasty consistency renders it a very convenient material....
In continuous masses dynamite transmits detonation at the rate of from 19,500 to 21,600 feet a second. Confinement is not requisite for its explosion, and it can be used in damp situations without to any great extent impairing its action. It explodes if heated in a closed brass case, also on sharp percussion when placed between two metallic surfaces; it should not, therefore, be kept in hermetically sealed receptacles of metal or other very solid material. At a low temperature dynamite loses its tendency to explode by detonation. Another defect is its liability to part with a portion of its nitroglycerin, especially when in contact with porous substances, such as the paper of cartridges and wrappers (see Guyot, Compt. rend., lxxii. 688). MM. Girard, Millot, and Vogt have shown (^Moniteur scientifique, xiii. 58) that for the manufacture of dynamite the best absorbents are kaolin, tripoli, alumina, and sugar; the last, like alum, the material employed in Mr Horsley’s preparation, has the advantage of being separable from associated nitroglycerin by solution in water. Dynamite as made by M. P. Champion consisted of 20 to 25 parts of nitroglycerin with 75 to 80 parts of finely pulverized burnt clay from glass works (Μοnit. scient., xiii. 91); and in some explosives sold as dynamite a mixture of sawdust and chalk is substituted for siliceous substances.
See F. A. Abel, On Recent Investigations and Applications oj Explosive Agents, 1871; J. Trauzl, Die Dynamite, ihre Eigenschaften und Gebrauchsweise, Berlin, 1876.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 7, p. 583
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[517 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]
Snap Roget’s Thesaurus §406
N. snap, rapping #, decrepitation, crepitation, report, thud, burst, explosion, blast, boom, discharge, detonation, firing, salvo, volley, squib, cracker, firecracker, cherry bomb, m80, gun, cap, cap gun, popgun, implosion, bomb burst, atomic explosion, nuclear explosion (arms) 727, gunpowder, dynamite, gun cotton, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, plastic explosive, plastique, tnt, cordite, trinitrotoluene, picric acid, picrates, mercury fulminate (arms) 727, whack, wham, pow
V. rap, snap, tap, knock, ping, click, clash, crack, crackle, crash, pop, slam, bang, blast, boom, clap, clang, clack, whack, wham, brustle, burst on the ear, crepitate, rump, blow up, blow, detonate
Adj. rapping
Int. kaboom, whamo, heewhack, pow
Arms Roget’s Thesaurus §727
N. arm, arms, weapon, deadly weapon, armament, armaments, armature, panoply, stand of arms, armor, armory, apparatus belli, ammunition, powder, powder and shot, cartridge, ball cartridge, cartouche, fireball, "villainous saltpeter", dumdum bullet, explosive, gunpowder, guncotton, mercury fulminate, picrates, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, petn, high explosive, trinitrotoluene, tnt, dynamite, melinite, cordite, lyddite, plastic explosive, plastique, pyroxyline, sword, saber, broadsword, cutlass, falchion, scimitar, cimeter, brand, whinyard, bilbo, glaive, glave, rapier, skean, toledo, ferrara, tuck, claymore, adaga, baselard, lochaber ax, skean dhu, creese, kris, dagger, dirk, banger, poniard, stiletto, stylet, dudgeon, bayonet, sword-bayonet, sword-stick, side arms, foil, blade, steel, ax, bill, pole-ax, battle-ax, gisarme, halberd, partisan, tomahawk, bowie knife, ataghan, attaghan, yataghan, yatacban, assagai, assegai, good sword, trusty sword, naked sword, cold steel, club, mace, truncheon, staff, bludgeon, cudgel, life preserver, shillelah, sprig, hand staff, quarter staff, bat, cane, stick, knuckle duster, billy, blackjack, sandbag, waddy, gun, piece, firearms, artillery, ordnance, siege train, battering train, park, battery, cannon, gun of position, heavy gun, field piece, mortar, howitzer, carronade, culverin, basilisk, falconet, jingal, swivel, pederero, bouche a feu, petard, torpedo, mitrailleur, mitrailleuse, infernal machine, smooth bore, rifled cannon, armstrong gun, lancaster gun, paixhan gun, whitworth gun, parrott gun, krupp gun, gatling gun, maxim gun, machine gun, pompom, ten pounder, small arms, musket, musketry, firelock, fowling piece, rifle, fusil, caliver, carbine, blunderbuss, musketoon, brown bess, matchlock, harquebuss, arquebus, haguebut, pistol, postolet, petronel, small bore, breach-loader, muzzle-loader, revolver, repeater, minis rifle, enfield rifle, flobert rifle, westley richards rifle, snider rifle, martini-henry rifle, lee-metford rifle, lee- enfield rifle, mauser rifle, magazine rifle, needle gun, chassepot, wind gun, air gun, automatic gun, automatic pistol, escopet, escopette, gunflint, gun-lock, hackbut, shooter, shooting iron *, six-shooter, shotgun, uzzi, assault rifle, kalashnikov, bow, crossbow, balister, catapult, sling, battering ram, gunnery, ballistics, missile, bolt, projectile, shot, ball, grape, grape shot, canister shot, bar shot, cannon shot, langrel shot, langrage shot, round shot, chain shot, balista, ballista, slung shot, trebucbet, trebucket, bullet, slug, stone, brickbat, grenade, shell, bomb, carcass, rocket, congreve, congreve rocket, shrapnel, mitraille, levin bolt, levin brand, thunderbolt, pike, lance, spear, spontoon, javelin, dart, jereed, jerid, arrow, reed, shaft, bolt, boomerang, harpoon, gaff, eelspear, oxgoad, weet-weet, wommerah, cattle prod, chemical mace
Phr. en flute, nervos belli pecuniam infinitam
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