Are explosives a good thing?

This unit is a combination of Chemistry - how does an explosive work, how do we modify explosives and how can we control and measure how fast reactions go along with a wider appreciation of how Chemistry fits in to mankind's development. We clearly survived without explosives and many would say that they have only ever been used for horrific acts of violence and the unimaginable loss of life that wars cause. Are there any redeeming features of explosives? Do they affect our lives in a positive way?

One little snippet to keep your brain thinking is the life and works of Alfred Nobel. He made his fortune (and it was huge) by making explosives. Starting with nitroglycerine (amongst others) and manufacturing it into Dynamite (hence the picture above). When he died he left his money to making a foundation to reward endeavour in several disciplines - and the Nobel prizes were formed. Thinking purely from a health perspective Nobel prizes have been awarded for such inventions as the MRI machines now commonplace in all hospitals, the discovery of the structure of penicillin, the elucidation of the structure of DNA. All these were awarded with millions of pounds from the explosives industry which further fuelled their research.

Read more here: Alfred Nobel

My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant, whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by golden peace.

—Alfred Nobel