Gelignite
Gelignita
- Date
- 1875 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Alfred Nobel
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A gelatinous explosive made of nitrocellulose dissolved in nitroglycerin and mixed with wood pulp and nitrate, more stable and mouldable than dynamite. Nobel developed it shortly after dynamite as a safer alternative to handle and store.
Patented by Alfred Nobel in 1875, eight years after dynamite, solving the nitroglycerin 'sweating' problem that dynamite suffered from.
What it led to
- widespread use in mining and quarrying due to its low cost
- safer, mouldable plastic explosives
- later, controversial, adoption by armed groups in 20th-century conflicts