Beginnings
- The first batch of ammonium nitrate was synthesized by German chemist Johann R. Glauber in 1659.
- The synthesis process can be as simple as mixing together ammonia and nitric acid.
World War I
- The true explosive capabilities of ammonium nitrate were not discovered until WWI.
- Throughout the war, ammonia synthesis plants in Germany were converted from fertilizer production plants into plants that created materials for bombs. They supplied the Axis country with explosives.
- These plants used the Haber-Bosch process to form their ammonia.
- In this process hydrogen and nitrogen were combined under extremely high pressure to form ammonia.