Gunpowder is considered the first explosive to be discovered. It was first discovered many years ago in China and India. Early uses of gunpowder were primarily for military use but didn’t see wide spread until the 16th century. Due to gunpowder being a low explosive it was not used for much mining related activities.
Nitroglycerin was the first industrial explosive. It was first discovered in 1847 by chemist Ascanio Sobrero. It was a much stronger explosive compared to black powder, but due to it being very sensitive it was not practical to use in a mining operation. It is, however, the main component to dynamite.
Dynamite was the first safely manageable explosive that was stronger than black powder. It was discovered in 1867 by Alfred Nobel. Dynamite combines the highly explosive nitroglycerin with stabilizing materials to make the nitroglycerin not extremely shock-sensitive. It still remained as a very strong …show more content…
For example, a very common modern explosive is ANFO which is made with ammonium nitrate. The ammonium nitrate in the ANFO acts as both the oxidizing agent and the absorbent for the fuel. ANFO is considered a high explosive and needs a larger quantity of secondary explosives to prime it like dynamite. One disadvantage of ammonium nitrate is that is hygroscopic making it very acceptable to water interferences and cannot be loaded in standing water. Instead, either a liner is placed in the borehole or another water-resistant explosive is used. ANFO is still considered to be one of the most widely used industrial