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 In turn, these have largely been replaced by modern explosives such as trinitrotoluene and C-4.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: Liquid Explosives
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
“History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)