Gelignite, also known as blasting gelatin or simply jelly, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate).
It was invented in 1875 by Alfred Nobel, who had earlier invented dynamite. Unlike dynamite, gelignite does not suffer from the dangerous problem of sweating, the leaking of unstable nitroglycerine from the solid matrix. Its composition makes it easily moldable and safe to handle without protection, as long as it is not near anything capable of detonating it. One of the cheapest explosives, it burns slowly and cannot explode without a detonator, so it can be stored safely.
Due to its widespread civilian use in quarries and mining, it has historically been often used by revolutionaries, insurgents, and guerrillas such as Irish Republican Army.
Gelignite is mentioned in the Queen song "Killer Queen" along with other dangerous objects: "She's a Killer Queen/ Gunpowder, Gelatine/ Dynamite with a laser beam..."
The Flogging Molly song Drunken Lullabies, from the album of the same name, contains the line "Five hundred years like Gelignite/Have blown us all to hell"
The Tunng song Bullets, from Good Arrows, contains the line "Green hills and enemies/ These things they make us sentimental inside/ Your words are gelignite/ Or just another sentimental aside"
The Morrissey song You know I Couldn't Last, from the album You Are The Quarry, contains the line "They're just gelignite, loaded and aiming right between your eyes"
In the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Mr. Wonka comments that his "exploding candy" isn't strong enough yet - "it still needs more Gelignite..."