A simulation of a napalm explosion at an air show in 2003. Inside the bomb is a mix of napalm-B - f and gasoline.

Napalm is a type of flammable liquid (liquid that is easy to burn) that has been used in war. Often, it is gasoline that has turned into a jelly. When it is mixed with gasoline, the thickener makes a sticky gel that is easy to burn, and burns for a long time. A team of Harvard chemists in U.S. made napalm during World War II. The team leader was Louis Fieser. The name napalm comes from the ingredients that were first used to make it: coprecipitated aluminum salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the ingredients to cause it to turn into a gel.