Explosives and Incendiary Compounds

Chemical compounds and mixtures made to burn or explode on demand, from gunpowder, the earliest known chemical explosive, through the nitroglycerin explosive dynamite, to the incendiary weapon Greek fire and the pyrotechnic charges of fireworks. Their making rests on controlled, very fast chemical reactions that release heat and gas. An invention belongs here when the cited article describes it as an explosive, an incendiary or a pyrotechnic device. It excludes guns and other delivery weapons themselves.