Grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand, but can also refer to projectiles shot out of grenade launchers. Generally, a grenade consists of an explosive charge, a detonating mechanism, and firing pin inside the grenade to trigger the detonating mechanism. Once the soldier throws the grenade, the safety lever releases, the striker throws the safety lever away from the grenade body as it rotates to detonate the primer. The primer explodes and ignites the fuze (sometimes called the delay element). The fuze burns down to the detonator, which explodes the main charge. There are several types of grenades like the fragmentation (frag), high explosive (HE) concussion and smoke grenades. Fragmentation grenades are probably the most common in modern armies. They are missiles designed to disperse shrapnel on detonation. The body is generally made of a hard synthetic material or steel, which will provide limited fragmentation through sharding and splintering, though in modern grenades a pre-formed fragmentation matrix inside the grenade is commonly used. The pre-formed fragmentation may be spherical, cuboid, wire or notched wire. Most anti-personnel (AP) grenades are designed to detonate either after a time delay or on impact. When the word grenade is used colloquially, it is generally assumed to refer to a fragmentation grenade. Stick grenades have a long handle attached to the grenade directly, providing leverage for longer throwing distance, at the cost of additional weight and length. The term "stick grenade" commonly refers to the German Stielhandgranate style stick grenade introduced in 1915 and developed throughout World War I. A friction igniter was used; this method was uncommon in other countries but widely used for German grenades. Grenades are typically round-shaped with a "pineapple" or "baseball"-style design, or an explosive charge on a handle which is referred to as a "stick grenade". The stick grenade design has been considered obsolete since World War II and the Cold War period. They saw extensive use in World War I and in World War II. The WWI and WWII era "stick grenade" was often used in trench and built-up (urban and small scale) warfare by the Central Powers and Nazi Germany, while the Triple Entente and Allied powers typically used some improvised earlier grenades or round-shaped fragmentation grenades. Etymology The word "grenade" is likely derived from Old French pomegranate and influenced by Spanish granada, as the bomb is reminiscent of the many-seeded fruit, together with its size and shape. Its first use in English dates from the 1590s. History Early grenades Rudimentary incendiary grenades appeared in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, not long after the reign of Leo III (717–741). Byzantine soldiers learned that Greek fire, a Byzantine invention of the previous century, could not only be thrown by flamethrowers at the enemy but also in stone and ceramic jars. Later, glass containers were employed. The use of Greek fire spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, from where it reached China by the 10th century. In China, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279AD), weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei (, "Sky-shaking Thunder") were created when Chinese soldiers packed gunpowder into ceramic or metal containers. In 1044, a military book Wujing Zongyao ("Compilation of Military Classics") described various gunpowder recipes in which one can find, according to Joseph Needham, the prototype of the modern hand grenade. The mid-14th-century book Huolongjing (, "Fire Dragon Manual"), written by Jiao Yu (), recorded an earlier Song-era cast iron cannon known as the "flying-cloud thunderclap cannon" (; ). The manuscript stated that (Needham's modified Wade-Giles spelling): The first cast iron bombshells and grenades appeared in Europe in 1467.