The reaction which follows is highly exothermic, i.e. it generates heat and will result in an explosion of nitroglycerine, unless the mixture is cooled while the reaction is taking place.
Liquid nitroglycerine is colorless if pure.
It is soluble in alcohols but insoluble in water. Nitroglycerine is extremely sensitive to shock and in the early days, when impure nitroglycerine was used, it was very difficult to predict under which conditions nitroglycerine would explode. Alfred Nobel studied these problems in detail, and was the first to produce nitroglycerine on an industrial scale. This in turn, caused an explosion of the surrounding nitroglycerine. Alfred Nobel worked hard to improve nitroglycerine as an explosive that could be used in blasting rock and in mining.