this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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Memes

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I mean the reason nuclear weapons are measured in megatonnes and so on is that it is actually megatonnes of TNT. And hence Its predecessor Dynamite.

So... we couldn't relate destructiveness without good ol' Alfred.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

TNT has nothing to do with dynamite or Nobel. It was discovered years before dynamite was invented, however it wasn't used as an explosive at first. And dynamite is just a mostly stable preparation of nitroglycerin. Nobel didn't discover any new explosive compounds, he literally just mixed stuff with nitro.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav 1 points 2 years ago

"I am become megatonne, measurer of explosions." -Alfred Nobel, after witnessing the first boom

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Dynamite is a pretty cool invention though

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Meh. It was a decent way to make nitroglycerin less unstable, but there are so many better, safer explosives. TNT, for example, is stable enough to be melted down and cast into shells. C4 burns like a candle and won't detonate without a blasting cap.

Dynamite tends to "sweat" nitroglycerin over time, and then the slightest amount of heat, friction, or impact can cause it to detonate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Dynamite Sweat

Pardon me, there's a metal band I need to get started. Gonna blow some fuckin' minds!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Nah, that's obviously a folk-punk band with an industrial revolution concept album

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

Rock goes boom.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Not really. It is still used, but the vast majority of blasting is done with ANFO now. Much safer and much cheaper.