Introduction    History    Discoveries    Nobel Prizes

Discoveries

One of his laboratories (taken from www.nobel.se/nobel/alfred-nobel/biographical/life-work/)

His first success was dynamite, which is a mixture of nitroglycerine (previously unstable) with silica, this turned the liquid into a paste, which could be shaped as desired and was safe for transportation. Although at the same time the explosive power had been diminished. A blasting cap was also invented which could be used as a detonator by lighting a fuse. .This obviously made it a lot easier to have controlled explosions and thus became widely used. Dynamite is five times more powerful than gun powder, so his discovery revolutionised the mining industry.

His aim was to increase the power of dynamite to that of nitroglycerine, so he set about experimenting with other additives. One day he happened to cut his finger, he applied collodion to his finger to give it an artificial covering so that it could heal. During a restless nights sleep that night it occurred to him that mixing collodion with nitroglycerin might be favourable. Typically he set about his task straight away and it was not long until he had produced a jelly type substance which was to become blasting gelatin. This is an example of serendipity where he made a discovery out of his misfortune of cutting his finger. Blasting gelatin is considered an ideal explosive as it completely consumed upon use, giving off only gaseous product. This led to Nobel founding factories in over 20 countries and started the basis of his empire.

Other inventions and discoveries of his included:

Weapons technology such as ballistite, silencing guns and ballistic rockets, but they were before their time and never took off.

He developed substitutes for rubber, leather and silk, aswell as patenting designs for glass nozzles, aluminium boats and an explosion proof boiler.

Nobel also financed expeditions to the north pole and the manufacture of bicycles.