Can Dynamite Treat Heart Disease? The Duality of Nitroglycerin as Explosives and Medicine
In 1846, scientist Ascano Sobrero synthesized the compound nitroglycerin (C3H5N3O9). The importance of this discovery lay in nitroglycerin’s ability to maintain a combustion reaction (SciShow, 2017). The typical structure of a combustion reaction is a hydrocarbon reacting with oxygen gas, which produces carbon dioxide and water: CxHy(s) + O2(g) → CO2(g) + H2O(l) In combustion,…