Can $340,000,000 rewrite history?

The Obituary That Changed a Life [00:05]

• In 1888, Alfred Nobel mistakenly read his own obituary, which described him as the "merchant of death" for his work with explosives.
• This experience deeply affected him, making him realize how the world would remember him if he didn't change his legacy.
• The obituary, though possibly exaggerated, highlighted the negative perception of his inventions.

This moment of confronting his potential legacy served as a significant turning point, prompting Nobel to consider how his life's work would be viewed by posterity.

The newspaper had made a mistake. Alfred's older brother, Lewig, had died in France, and the journalists had confused the two, but in that moment, he saw exactly how the world would remember him. Not as an inventor, but as a butcher.

The Power and Peril of Nitroglycerin [01:06]

• Alfred Nobel built his empire on nitroglycerin, a powerful explosive with blast pressures over 100 times greater than gunpowder.
• Nitroglycerin is extremely sensitive and can detonate from being dropped, shaken, or bumped, leading to many worker deaths.
• Nobel aimed to "tame" this explosive, leading to the creation of new, more powerful explosives used in construction and warfare.
• These inventions, while transforming the modern world, also contributed to tens of thousands of deaths.

Nobel's work with nitroglycerin, while technically groundbreaking, was fraught with danger and had devastating consequences due to its inherent instability.

Its blast pressure is over 100 times greater than gunpowder.

Early Life and Father's Influence [02:05]

• Alfred's father, Emanuel, was also an inventor who founded Sweden's first rubber factory and invented the rotary lathe.
• Emanuel struggled with business, going bankrupt shortly after Alfred was born, and left to start over in Russia.
• Alfred's early childhood in Stockholm was marked by poverty, with his brothers selling matches to afford food, and his own frequent illnesses.
• Upon joining his father in St. Petersburg, Alfred's father seized an opportunity during the Crimean War by proposing sea mines.

Alfred's upbringing was shaped by his father's inventive spirit and financial struggles, alongside his own childhood adversies.

Mine was a pitiful half-life which ought to have been extinguished by some compassionate doctor as I yelled my way into the world.

The Discovery of Nitroglycerin [03:51]

• At 17, Alfred studied chemistry in Paris under renowned chemists and met Dr. Escanio Sabrero.
• Sabrero demonstrated nitroglycerin, a liquid explosive soaked into cotton, which was far more powerful than gunpowder.
• Unlike gunpowder, where reactants are separate, nitroglycerin has all necessary elements within the same molecule, allowing for a much faster and more powerful reaction.

Alfred's encounter with nitroglycerin revealed its unprecedented power compared to existing explosives like gunpowder.

And that's what nitroglycerin does.

Comparing Explosives: Gunpowder vs. Nitroglycerin [06:02]

• A test comparing 15g of gunpowder and 15g of nitroglycerin in clay blocks showed a stark difference in destructive power.
• The gunpowder explosion barely affected the clay block and left the "bikini gauge" intact.
• The nitroglycerin explosion obliterated the clay block, covering everything nearby, including the bikini gauge, with debris.
• This demonstrated that nitroglycerin's blast overpressure was significantly higher than gunpowder's.

The experimental comparison vividly illustrated the immense power of nitroglycerin over gunpowder, highlighting its destructive capabilities.

The smaller the circle that gets punctured means the higher the blast over pressure.

The Molecular Basis of Nitroglycerin's Power [08:33]

• Nitroglycerin's power stems from its highly unstable molecular structure, with weak bonds between nitro groups and the main chain.
• A small amount of energy, like a hammer strike, can break these weak bonds, causing the molecule to decompose rapidly into stable gases.
• This decomposition releases a massive amount of energy and heat, initiating a chain reaction that propagates at speeds exceeding the speed of sound.
• This detonation process occurs incredibly fast, within femtoseconds (trillionths of a second), defining it as a high explosive.

The inherent instability and unique molecular configuration of nitroglycerin are responsible for its extreme power and rapid detonation.

It's this speed that is one of the defining characteristics of high explosives.

Sabrero's Warning and Nobel's Vision [10:32]

• Dr. Sabrero, the discoverer of nitroglycerin, did not intend to create an explosive but was researching medicine for blood flow.
• An accidental explosion during his research left him scarred and deeply shaken, deeming nitroglycerin too dangerous.
• Alfred Nobel, however, saw the potential and was inspired by the explosive's power, viewing the shock that detonated it as a pivotal discovery.
• He believed he could overcome nitroglycerin's sensitivity and make it a practical tool, escaping his own past depressions through his work.

While Sabrero feared nitroglycerin's danger, Nobel was captivated by its power, seeing it as a challenge to be mastered and a source of personal escape.

He had earned his reputation building an empire on one substance, nitroglycerin.

The Problem of Detonation Control [11:42]

• Detonating nitroglycerin reliably was a major challenge, as a regular flame would not ignite it, and a fuse was inconsistent.
• Dropping or shaking nitroglycerin could cause it to detonate, but this was unpredictable and uncontrollable.
• Experiments showed that even a bumpy ride in an RC truck did not reliably trigger detonation, highlighting its paradoxical nature.

The unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of nitroglycerin's detonation made it extremely dangerous and difficult to use safely.

It's always seems to be blowing up when you don't want it to, and you can't really get it to blow up when you want it to. That's very paradoxical.

The Invention of the Blasting Cap [14:55]

• Alfred Nobel's brother Emil was crucial in developing a reliable method to detonate nitroglycerin.
• Nobel's invention involved using a small amount of gunpowder packed with a wooden plug in a nitroglycerin container, ignited by a fuse.
• The explosion of the gunpowder delivered the necessary shock to detonate the nitroglycerin.
• This method was refined using mercury fulminate in a blasting cap, becoming the first reliable way to detonate nitroglycerin on command.

The invention of the blasting cap, using a small, controlled explosion to trigger a larger one, was a groundbreaking development in safely utilizing nitroglycerin.

His invention, the blasting cap, was refined to use an even more consistent explosive than gunpowder, mercury fulminate.

Industrial Applications of Nitroglycerin [17:41]

• With the blasting cap, nitroglycerin became practical for industrial uses, significantly speeding up excavation.
• In mines, the rate of tunneling almost doubled, and in Mexico, 15 men with nitroglycerin could do the work of 25 with gunpowder.
• This led to massive orders from mining companies, engineers, and railway builders worldwide.

The advent of the blasting cap made nitroglycerin a powerful and efficient tool for industrial excavation and construction projects.

Nitroglycerin sped up industrial excavation dramatically.

The Tragedy of Emil's Death [18:11]

• While producing nitroglycerin in Sweden, Alfred's younger brother Emil and four others died in a factory explosion on September 3, 1864.
• The explosion was catastrophic, leaving behind gruesome scenes of mutilation.
• Alfred blamed himself for the accident and vowed to make nitroglycerin safe.

A devastating explosion that killed his brother Emil deeply impacted Alfred, strengthening his resolve to find a way to make explosives safer.

Most ghastly was the sight of the mutilated corpses strewn on the ground.

The Problem of Bubbles and Cavitation [20:04]

• Nitroglycerin's viscosity traps tiny bubbles of air and water vapor, which are a major cause of its sensitivity.
• When a shock wave hits these bubbles, they compress and heat up rapidly, creating hot spots that decompose nearby nitroglycerin.
• Cavitation, the formation and collapse of bubbles due to pressure drops from impacts, can also trigger detonation in nitroglycerin.

The presence of internal bubbles and the phenomenon of cavitation made nitroglycerin inherently unstable and prone to accidental detonation.

A single impact can collapse many bubbles at once, which releases enough energy to trigger the chain reaction that detonates the entire liquid.

Nobel's Breakthrough: Dynamite [22:23]

• Alfred Nobel experimented with various absorbent materials to stabilize nitroglycerin.
• He discovered that diatomaceous earth, a fine silica powder made from fossilized algae, could absorb nitroglycerin.
• This mixture, named dynamite, was significantly less sensitive to shock and could be handled more safely.
• Dynamite could still be detonated reliably when combined with Nobel's blasting cap.

By mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth, Nobel created dynamite, a safer and more stable explosive that revolutionized industries.

This material, diatomaceous earth or kiesel, had been appreciated by Darwin.

The Creation of Gelignite [29:21]

• Nobel was inspired by a bandage soaking up blood to investigate cotton as an absorbent for nitroglycerin.
• He discovered that nitrocellulose (gun cotton) could absorb nitroglycerin, forming a stable, moldable gel.
• This mixture, called Gelignite, resisted sweating, offered a perfect explosive yield, and could be shaped for precise blasting.

Nobel's experimentation with nitrocellulose led to the creation of Gelignite, the world's first moldable explosive, further enhancing safety and control.

If cotton is so good at absorbing blood, maybe it'll be just as good at absorbing nitroglycerin.

The Nobel Prizes and Legacy [42:48]

• Alfred Nobel, deeply affected by the destructive uses of his inventions and his personal loneliness, established the Nobel Prizes in his will.
• He dedicated 94% of his fortune (approximately $340 million today) to create prizes for significant contributions to humanity in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, and peace.
• His final act was to give away his fortune for an idea, shifting his legacy from the "merchant of death" to a benefactor of mankind.
• Many people today primarily associate Alfred Nobel with the Nobel Peace Prize, largely unaware of his invention of dynamite.

In his final years, Nobel established the Nobel Prizes, using his vast fortune to honor achievements that benefit humanity, thereby attempting to redeem his legacy.

With 94% of his personal fortune, 31.2 million Swedish croner or about $340 million today. He created a set of prizes for those who during the preceding year shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind, the Nobel Prize.