I found a old movie showing making cotton powder in Nobels factory in Karlskoga, making nitroglycerine (carried in buckets) mixing it with cotton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOZtk1j6umc

Interesting. When I was young nitroglycerine was portrayed in film as so volatile that a vial of it getting dropped would cause a significant explosion.

If that is true, those men seemed to be very off-hand about the dangers.

OSHA would have fun with those guys.
C.G.B.

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Interesting. When I was young nitroglycerine was portrayed in film as so volatile that a vial of it getting dropped would cause a significant explosion.

If that is true, those men seemed to be very off-hand about the dangers.

That is true for acidic nitroglycerine - if you let a drop fall onto a hard surface, it will readily detonate. Once the acid is neutralized, nitroglycerine is much more stable. That is why today it is made in a continuous process where only a small amount of acidic nitroglycerine is present at any given time.

The older batch process was much more dangerous and many lives were lost in explosions of the batch reactors.

Thanks for that, JV.