Gelignite
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Gelignite, also known as blasting gelatin or simply jelly, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate).
It was invented in 1875 by Alfred Nobel, who had earlier invented dynamite.[1] Unlike dynamite, gelignite does not suffer from the dangerous problem of sweating, the leaking of unstable nitroglycerine from the solid matrix. Its composition makes it easily moldable and safe to handle without protection, as long as it is not near anything capable of detonating it. One of the cheapest explosives, it burns slowly and cannot explode without a detonator, so it can be stored safely.
Due to its widespread civilian use in quarries and mining, it has historically been often used by revolutionaries, insurgents, and guerrillas such as Irish Republican Army.[2]
[edit] Referecnces
- ^ Braddock, Kevin (3rd February, 2011). "How to handle gelignite". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/03/how-to/how-to-handle-gelignite. Retrieved 25th February, 2012.
- ^ Coogan, Tim Pat (January 2002). The IRA. Palgrave McMillan. p. 379. ISBN 9780312294168.
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