If you are a fan of the old Roadrunner cartoons, you probably remember the coyote blowing himself up time and time again trying to handle explosive nitroglycerin. If the coyote had so many troubles, why can heart patients carry around their nitroglycerin pills without any danger?
This question is made even more intriguing by the fact that there is no chemical difference between the nitroglycerin used in explosives and in heart medication.
For those who don’t know what nitroglycerin or “nitro” is, it is a medication used for the prevention and treatment of heart attacks. Nitroglycerin comes in tablets, ointment, patches, sprays, and most commonly a small pill that is placed under the tongue. Nitroglycerin dilates (opens) blood vessels, increasing blood flow to areas of the heart that are being deprived of oxygen.
A good way to understand why therapeutic nitro doesn’t blow up is to consider dynamite. Dynamite, which is safe to handle, also contains nitroglycerin. In dynamite, the nitroglycerin is combined (or diluted ) with a nonexplosive substance, diatomaceous earth. Dynamite is then stable enough to handle and resists shocks and movement. All you need is a blasting cap and you are ready to blow stuff up.
The medical dose of nitroglycerin is infinitesimal compared to the amount in a stick of dynamite. So kids out there – don’t try to steal your father’s nitro, attach a blasting cap, and blow up the neighbor’s cat.
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"Why don’t people who take nitroglycerin for their heart ever blow up?" was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am.