Commercial nitroglycerin is a thick, yellowish liquid, formula C3H5(ONO2)3. Since its discovery in 1846 by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero, it presented man with the problem of its safe and wise use. Doctors know that certain circulatory ailments are relieved by use of capsule doses of it. A small amount of it burns harmlessly when lit in an open vessel. But when confined and jolted, it explodes with more than 20 times the heat and expansion of gunpowder.
Alfred Nobel in 1867 found that by mixing the syrupy liquid with clay, he could obtain a relatively stable form—dynamite. Another mixture is cordite, containing guncotton and nitroglycerin.
