Dynamite and detonator, Nobel’s most successful invention.
problem of safety, all the time carrying out new experiments. He realized that the nitroglycerine had to be absorbed by some porous material and mixed with another substance if it were to be rendered safer to handle. He systematically tested a whole range of additives, such as charcoal, sawdust and cement, but without success. In the end, Nobel came upon what he was searching for almost by chance. On the German heathlands, just where he happened to be based, there was a porous and absorbent sand called kiselguhr, known locally on the Lüneburger Heide as heidberg sand. When the kiselguhr soaked up the nitroglycerine it formed a paste or kneadable mass. This paste could be made into sticks, which could then easily be inserted into the drill hole and exposed to the knocks and jolts of transportation without exploding. It could even be put in a fire without anything happening, for it was the percussion cap which caused the paste to explode. The disadvantage of the new alfred nobel ✲
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