Nitroglycerin known also as nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin, trinitroglycerine, or nitro, or more correctly as glyceryl trinitrate, or more formally as 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a heavy, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by treating glycerol with white fuming nitric acid under conditions appropriate to the formation of the nitric acid ester.