| Alfred Nobel |
| Norvegian Inventor of Dynamite and Founder of Nobel Prizes |
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| 1833-1896
My
dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world
|
| Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden to a family of engineers. His family was descended from Olof Rudbeck, the best-known technical genius of Sweden's 17th century era as a great power in northern Europe. At age 9, he moved with his family to Russia where he and his brothers were given first class education in the humanities and natural sciences by private teachers. Alfred Nobel was a great inventor and had 355 patents overall. Others to mention, besides dynamite, include synthetic rubber and leather, and artificial silk. Alfred lived a great deal of his life in Paris but also traveled a lot on business trips around the world. He was constantly involved in intense work and did not have much time left for private life. Besides his interest in his business, Alfred was very interested in social and peace-related issues, he also had a great interest in literature and poetry and even wrote some of his own works. He died in San Remo (Italy) on December 10, 1896. His will directed his fortunes to be used to establish a foundation that awarded a yearly Nobel Prize in the areas Physics, Chemistry, Physiology and Medicine, Literature, and Peace. The Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on December 10 each year and the king of Sweden is the person in charge of handing over the prize to the awarded in each category. The ceremony for the Nobel Prize for peace, however, is held in Oslo, Norway. |
| Dynamite |
| Dynamite is one example of a chemical explosive. An explosive is anything that, once ignited, burns extremely rapidly and produces a large amount of hot gas in the process. The hot gas expands very rapidly and applies pressure. Other explosives that you commonly hear about are nitroglycerin and TNT, but anything from gasoline to ammonium nitrate fertilizer to special plastic explosives are in the same class. Most true explosives contain the oxygen they need for burning in the chemical. This allows burning to occur much more quickly. Nitroglycerin, for example, has the chemical formula C3H5(ONO2)3. The carbon and hydrogen combine with oxygen, and the nitrogen is liberated. Dynamite is simply some sort of absorbent material (like sawdust) soaked in nitroglycerin. The absorbent material makes the nitroglycerin much more stable. You normally use a blasting cap to detonate dynamite -- a blasting cap creates a small explosion that triggers the larger explosion in the dynamite itself. |
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