History
Though early thermal weapons, such as Greek fire, have existed since ancient times, the first widely used explosive in warfare and mining was black powder, invented in 9th century China (see the history of gunpowder). This material was sensitive to water, and evolved lots of dark smoke. The first useful explosive stronger than black powder was nitroglycerin, developed in 1847. As nitroglycerin was unstable, it was replaced by nitrocellulose, smokeless powder, dynamite and gelignite (the two latter invented by Alfred Nobel). World War II saw an extensive use of new explosives (see explosives used during World War II). In turn, these have largely been replaced by modern explosives such as trinitrotoluene and C-4.
The increased availability of chemicals has allowed the construction of improvised explosive devices.
Read more about this topic: Explosive Material
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“I assure you that in our next class we will concern ourselves solely with the history of Egypt, and not with the more lurid and non-curricular subject of living mummies.”
—Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher)