The answer is a firm yes then.

(It has been a while since I was involved in chem, so forgive me being "rusty" (geddit) )

Dynamites are mixtures which may be either described as "the stuff is crystallised together and is pretty much a compound" or "stuff is a mechanical mixture, where components loosely retain their original properties". Perhaps they even add an emulsifier to keep things together. I have no idea about where dynamite fits into the continuum. But it probably starts off at 1 and ages towards 2.

Unless the lump of stuff is porous, the water will not get into it to aid separation. Then we get into the realms of things like pores in it, whether or not the surrounding "stuff" likes water or not, etc, etc. I guess it's probably at this sort of point that we realise an experiment is necessary.

Perhaps another compound separates out. Who knows what size the particles are, how they are mixed or what the stuff is like. I'd say that it's probably pretty damn irrelevant.

The facts are:-

1. There is AN in some dynamites.
2. The stuff which sweats is NG and this causes headaches by being a vasodilator.
3. It's probably still quite dangerous.

My reasoning for NG sweating would be that the "stuff" which isn't NG crystallises/rearranges itself to exclude the NG which is probably in a colloidal form.

Sorry to be awful, but the teacher in me points to:-

http://www.pyrosociety.org.uk/forum/topic/2134-hydroscopic-hygroscopic-or-neither/ 

Not to be confused with "deliquesent" which is where stuff absorbs water from the air and becomes a liquid itself. :smartass:

Edit:- Water of crystallisation could be another culprit. Rearrangement of "stuff" where water is an energetically favourable thing for the compound to associate itself with. The possibilities and chemical pathways are considerable.

I'm also rusty, and was an end-user rather than a chemist.

I thought Dynamite was originally NG plus an absorbent. Lurking in my distant memory are things like Diatomaceaous Earth and Kieselguhr, whatever they are.

Easy for the NG to become "un-absorbed" so not very safe. Also recall problems with Dynamite at low temperatures.

Gelatines were a development/improvement and contained more than just NG and Absorbent. Available in different strengths, e.g. 60% 80%, related to strength of a pure Dynamite.

AN already mentioned as an additional ingredient. I've seen what looks like sawdust in some Gelatines. If that's what it was, it could absorb NG and also add C, H and O to the mix.

The rest is beyond me.

Ok, I'll go with hyGroscopic, We did experiment with using sawdust in some mixtures but most of our stuff was produced for collieries and under test it was thought smoke might be a problem, we did a trial run of ANFO based stuff with sawdust filler in quarries but it slowed down the velocity of detonation (VOD) too much, critical in long holes.

---

The book I hinted at also has the sawdust recipe in among many others.

It's well worth buying.

Here you go:-

http://www.monkton-farleigh.co.uk/Fauld.htm 

I've had a bit extra time and trawled all my old PMs, old emails and I can't find the location of the info I was given. I joined 28DL specifically to chat to one of the locals who posted on the board. I have a horrible feeling that all the good info was PMs on there. Years ago, they had some problems and decided to suspend all the accounts. My email address is not known, however I will try and re-trace the chap and find out what the score was again.

The interesting thing is that none of the access points are labelled at all. If you look to the left by a bit on many of the old maps, there are "air shafts" labelled.

Re-reading the old stuff, I would absolutely love to have a go at it.