Nitro-glycerine, another chemical explosive, was discovered by an Italian chemist named Ascanio Sobrero in 1846; although the Chinese invented gun powder at least 1,000 years earlier. Although Ascanio Sobrero first called his discovery pyroglycerin, it soon came to be known generally as nitro-glycerine or blasting oil. The first chemical explosive was black powder, also known as gunpowder, a mixture of charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate (saltpetre). An explosive is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly. It is usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound and pressure. An explosive charge is a measured quantity of explosive material. Explosives
