Editing Dynamite (section)

==Manufacture==

===Form===
Dynamite is usually sold in the form of cardboard cylinders about {{convert|8|in|mm|abbr=on|sigfig=1|order=flip}} long and about {{convert|1+1/4|in|mm|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} in diameter, with a mass of about {{convert|1/2|lbt|g|order=flip}}.<ref name="Austin Blaster Guide">{{cite web |url=http://www.austinpowder.com/BlastersGuide/docs/pib/Dynamite%20Series.PDF |title=Austin Powder Guide, Dynamite series page 2 |access-date=9 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321201205/http://www.austinpowder.com/BlastersGuide/docs/pib/Dynamite%20Series.PDF |archive-date=21 March 2012 }}</ref> A stick of dynamite thus produced contains roughly 1&nbsp;MJ ([[megajoule]]) of energy.<ref>{{cite web|last1=ChemViews|title=145 Years of Dynamite|url=http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/3622371/145_Years_of_Dynamite.html|website=Chemistry Views|date=28 November 2012 |publisher=ChemViews Magazine|access-date=6 May 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818220703/http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/3622371/145_Years_of_Dynamite.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Other sizes also exist, rated by either portion (Quarter-Stick or Half-Stick) or by weight.

Dynamite is usually rated by "weight strength" (the amount of nitroglycerin it contains), usually from 20% to 60%. For example, ''40% dynamite'' is composed of 40% nitroglycerin and 60% "dope" (the absorbent storage medium mixed with the stabilizer and any additives).

===Storage considerations===
The maximum [[shelf life]] of nitroglycerin-based dynamite is recommended as one year from the date of manufacture under good storage conditions.<ref name="Austin Blaster Guide" />

Over time, regardless of the sorbent used, sticks of dynamite will "weep" or "sweat" nitroglycerin, which can then pool in the bottom of the box or storage area. For that reason, explosive manuals recommend the regular up-ending of boxes of dynamite in storage. Crystals will form on the outside of the sticks, purportedly causing them to be even more sensitive to shock, friction, and temperature. Therefore, while the risk of an explosion without the use of a [[blasting cap]] is minimal for fresh dynamite, old dynamite is dangerous.{{citation needed|date=May 2023|reason=VegasUnderworld.com contests the semi-common perception that old, sweated dynamite might explode with slight shock or friction and claims to have tested throwing sweated dynamite sticks off cliffs to no effect. The site owner asserts that nitroglycerin has a very short shelf life and accidents related to old dynamite have not been reported for over fifty years.}} Modern packaging helps eliminate this by placing the dynamite into sealed plastic bags and using wax-coated cardboard.

Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100&nbsp;mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between {{convert|0.5|and|10|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.<ref>Carlos López Jimeno, Emilio López Jimeno, Francisco Javier Ayala-Carcedo, ''Drilling and Blasting of Rocks'', translated by Yvonne Visser de Ramiro from ''Manual de perforación y voladura de rocas'' (1987), Geomining Technological Institute of Spain (Instituto Tecnológico Geominero de Espan~a), Taylor & Francis, London and New York, 1995, {{ISBN|90-5410-199-7}}</ref> With a hammer of 2&nbsp;kg, [[mercury fulminate]] detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2&nbsp;cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5&nbsp;cm, dynamite with 15 to 30&nbsp;cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50&nbsp;cm.

===Major manufacturers===
[[File:Aetna dynamite.jpg|thumb|upright|Advertisement for the Ætna Explosives Company of New York.]]

====South Africa====
For several decades beginning in the 1940s, the largest producer of dynamite in the world was the [[Union of South Africa]]. There, the [[De Beers]] company established a factory in 1902 at [[Somerset West]]. The explosives factory was later operated by [[AECI]] (African Explosives and Chemical Industries). The demand for the product came mainly from the country's vast gold mines, centered on the [[Witwatersrand]]. The factory at Somerset West was in operation in 1903 and by 1907 it was already producing 340,000 cases, {{convert|50|lb|kg|order=flip}} each, annually. A rival factory at Modderfontein was producing another 200,000 cases per year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.caia.co.za/|title=Home|website=Chemical & Allied Industries' Association|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423103201/https://www.caia.co.za/|url-status=live}}</ref>

There were two large explosions at the Somerset West plant during the 1960s. Some workers died, but the loss of life was limited by the modular design of the factory and its earth works, and the planting of trees that directed the blasts upward. There were several other explosions at the Modderfontein factory. After 1985, pressure from trade unions forced AECI to phase out the production of dynamite. The factory then went on to produce ammonium nitrate emulsion-based explosives that are safer to manufacture and handle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aeci.co.za/New/History/1980.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630050905/http://www.aeci.co.za/New/History/1980.htm |archive-date=30 June 2006 |title=Historical Highlights 1980's |date=30 June 2006 |access-date=9 June 2012}}</ref>

====United States====
Dynamite was first manufactured in the US by the [[Giant Powder Company]] of [[San Francisco]], California, whose founder had obtained the exclusive rights from Nobel in 1867. Giant was eventually acquired by [[DuPont (1802–2017)|DuPont]], which produced dynamite under the Giant name until Giant was dissolved by DuPont in 1905.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38234/m1/147/|title=The Federal Reporter with Key-Number Annotations, Volume 188: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and Circuit and District Courts of the United States, August-October, 1911.|date=8 May 1911|website=UNT Digital Library|access-date=30 March 2018|archive-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330150647/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38234/m1/147/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Thereafter, DuPont produced dynamite under its own name until 1911–12, when its explosives monopoly was broken up by the U.S. Circuit Court in the "Powder Case". Two new companies were formed upon the breakup, the [[Hercules Powder Company]] and the [[Atlas Powder Company]], which took up the manufacture of dynamite (in different formulations).

Currently, only [[Dyno Nobel]] manufactures dynamite in the US. The only facility producing it is located in [[Carthage, Missouri]], but the material is purchased from Dyno Nobel by other manufacturers who put their labels on the dynamite and boxes.