The History of Explosives

Since the dawn of the modern army in the Byzantine Empire, leaders have attempted to gain the advantage of superior firepower over their enemies. Explosives could inflict damage on a large scale. The advent of dynamite, however, was developed not for military purposes, but for construction to clear rock and large swaths of land, but it also ushered in more effective explosives such as Semtex and C-4, which are used for military and terrorism purposes.

'Greek Fire'

Byzantines began using "Greek Fire," an incendiary weapon that propels liquid fire against enemy ships in ocean battles, according to stronghold.heavengames.com. The weapon, a pressurized siphon, proved effective against European Crusaders, but its origins are lost to history. Ingredients used to ignite fire and propel it could be quicklime, sulfur and naphtha.

Black Powder

Saltpeter is used as the primary ingredient in black powder, later to become gun powder, and acknowledged for the first time in the writings of Arabian writer Abdul Allah in 1200. Its use was sporadic for about 150 years until its compounds were changed for use in weaponry by European armies, according to footguards.tripod.com. The first reliable non-military use for black powder was developed in 1818 for construction projects.

Dynamite

Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero invented nitroglycerin in 1846. Twenty years later, Alfred Nobel discovered that mixing nitroglycerin with silica makes paste, which becomes dynamite and is manufactured in cylinder form for blasting rock. In 1867, he perfects the blasting cap.

Ammonium Nitrate

Ammonium nitrate becomes the main source of dynamite in 1884. It's used in mining operations and is mixed at the site as a safety measure. The explosive includes adding fuels and oxidizers together, which are not considered explosives by themselves. The blasting agents are carbonaceous fuels and inorganic nitrates, according to globalsecurity.org.

Nuclear Bomb

The Manhattan Project was launched n 1939 at the suggestion of Albert Einstein and other physicists to develop a nuclear bomb. Under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a secret team in Los Alamos, N.M., developed a formula for refining Uranium. On July 16, 1945, a nuclear bomb was denoted in the Jemez Mountains. On Aug. 6, the 4 1/2-ton "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima, instantly killing 69,000 people. Three days later, "Fat Man" fell on Nagasaki, killing 39,000, according to buzzle.com.

Oklahoma City Bombing

The ease in which terrorists can use non-lethal material purchased over the counter to create a destructive explosive was demonstrated when Timothy McVeigh uses ammonium nitrate, fertilizer and nitro methane racing fuel inside a rental truck to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people.

Plastic Explosives

Plastic explosives date to Alfred Nobel's use of gelignite in 1875, but it didn't gain regular use until just before World War I, when Oswald Silberrad obtained a patent for Nitrol, a composition of aromatics, oxidizing inorganic salts and collodion. Plastic explosives were used in World War II. Semtex was developed in the 1960s. By the 1970s, Semtex and C-4 were common military weapons, according to explosia.cz.

References

• Explosives Timeline
• Atomic Bomb Information
• Timothy McVeigh Background

Resources

• Ammonium Nitrate Uses
• Semtex Uses
• Greek Fire Origins