# Could a rifle shot detonate 19th century dynomite? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375 "2016-05-09T04:18:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/1 "2016-05-09T04:18:49Z")
The whole point of Alfred Nobel’s product was to make it stable. Still, there’s things like[Tannerite.](http://www.tannerite.com/) So, which is it? Could Butch Cassidy save himself by shooting a case of TNT? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/2 "2016-05-09T06:05:08Z")
It may be stable, but not indefinitely. Dynamite has a finite shelf life. The nitroglycerin in it tends to pool and leak out, and when that happens all bets are off. It becomes shock sensitive and very dangerous. [Dynamite (wiki page): Storage considerations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite#Storage_considerations) (ETA: Did you mean to ask if a rifle shot could have set of 19th century dynamite when it was still fresh?) > [@](#): > > The maximum shelf life of nitroglycerin-based dynamite is recommended as one year from the date of manufacture under good storage conditions.[5] > > 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 repeated turning over of boxes of dynamite in storage. Crystals will form on the outside of the sticks causing them to be even more shock, friction, and temperature sensitive. This creates a very dangerous situation. While the risk of an explosion without the use of a blasting cap is minimal for fresh dynamite, old dynamite is dangerous. Modern packaging helps eliminate this by placing the dynamite into sealed plastic bags, and using wax coated cardboard. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/3 "2016-05-09T06:11:37Z")
Anecdote: My father had some old dynamite, and, for a lark, tried shooting a half-stick. Nothin’. He later disposed of the dynamite by burning it. (He and I blasted through a rocky place for a new road. Very “Laurel and Hardy.” We came within a silken thread of blowing ourselves to smeg.) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/4 "2016-05-09T11:40:30Z")
Note the last post in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-429739.html) thread… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/5 "2016-05-09T12:56:15Z")
[Yes, it could.](http://redpillreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dynomite.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/6 "2016-05-09T14:02:29Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > It may be stable, but not indefinitely. Dynamite has a finite shelf life. The nitroglycerin in it tends to pool and leak out, and when that happens all bets are off. It becomes shock sensitive and very dangerous. This is the plot device of the movie **Sorcerer** , a remake of **The Wages of Fear**. The gist: there’s an oil well fire in the jungles of Central America. They need TNT to snuff it, but the only stuff available has been in a jungle shack for years, unturned, and the nitro has all leaked out into the crate linings. Four desperate men with nothing to lose must drive two trucks over 200 miles of uneven jungle terrain to get the explosive to the well. [Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDbIzovuos). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/7 "2016-05-09T14:23:38Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > This is the plot device of the movie **Sorcerer** , a remake of **The Wages of Fear**. The gist: there’s an oil well fire in the jungles of Central America. They need TNT to snuff it, but the only stuff available has been in a jungle shack for years, unturned, and the nitro has all leaked out into the crate linings. Four desperate men with nothing to lose must drive two trucks over 200 miles of uneven jungle terrain to get the explosive to the well. [Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDbIzovuos). And everybody else had a good laugh over the prank played on the four idiots who didn’t know that TNT doesn’t contain nitro. 😃 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/8 "2016-05-09T15:51:48Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And everybody else had a good laugh over the prank played on the four idiots who didn’t know that TNT doesn’t contain nitro. > 😃 😉 I assume you are using “nitro” as shorthand for “nitroglycerin,” but out of curiosity, what do you think the “N” in “TNT” stands for? 😉 It just seemed funny to me to read your statement that TNT ([trinitrotoluene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitrotoluene)) doesn’t contain nitro. On the contrary, each molecule of TNT contains three [nitro functional groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitro_compound), hence the name. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/9 "2016-05-09T16:19:09Z")
Nonetheless, nitroglycerin and trinitrotoulene are two very different things. Nitroglycerin is dangerously shock sensitive when not stabilized. TNT is so shock resistant that it can be shot out of artillery pieces in explosive shells. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-rifle-shot-detonate-19th-century-dynomite/754375/10 "2016-05-09T16:25:02Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I assume you are using “nitro” as shorthand for “nitroglycerin,” but out of curiosity, what do you think the “N” in “TNT” stands for? 😉 > > It just seemed funny to me to read your statement that TNT ([trinitrotoluene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitrotoluene)) doesn’t contain nitro. On the contrary, each molecule of TNT contains three [nitro functional groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitro_compound), hence the name. Nitrogen really, really, _really_ wants to be a gas, and to do so will do increasingly loud and amusing things the more nitrogen atoms you pack into a molecule. > [@Lumpy](#): > > Nonetheless, nitroglycerin and trinitrotoulene are two very different things. Nitroglycerin is dangerously shock sensitive when not stabilized. TNT is so shock resistant that it can be shot out of artillery pieces in explosive shells. I like one column by Derek Lowe where he’s describing a molecule which can be stabilized by combining it with TNT. “Yes, this is an example of something that becomes less explosive as a one-to-one cocrystal with TNT. Although, as the authors point out, if you heat those crystals up the two components separate out, and you’re left with crystals of pure CL-20 soaking in liquid TNT, a situation that will heighten your awareness of the fleeting nature of life.” [http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2011/11/11/things\_i\_wont\_work\_with\_hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane](http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2011/11/11/things_i_wont_work_with_hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane)