Gunpowder

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File:Black Powder Close Up.jpg
Black powder for muzzleloading rifles and pistols in FFFG granulation size. Coin (diameter 24 mm) for comparison.
For other meanings, see gunpowder (disambiguation).

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is a mixture of sulphur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. Gunpowder can be made just using potassium nitrate and charcoal, but without the sulphur, the powder is not as strong. It burns rapidly, producing a volume of hot gas made up of carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen, and a solid residue of potassium sulfide.[1] Because of its burning properties and the amount of heat and gas volume that it generates, gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks. The term gunpowder also refers broadly to any propellant powder. Modern firearms do not use the traditional gunpowder (black powder) described in this article, but instead use smokeless powder. Antique firearms or replicas of antique firearms are often used with black powder substitute.

Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds. High explosives detonate, producing a supersonic wave. Ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder is thus less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications, where high explosives such as TNT are preferred.

Characteristics

The term black powder was coined in the late 19th century to distinguish prior gunpowder formulations from the new smokeless powders and semi-smokeless powders. (Semi-smokeless powders featured bulk volume properties that approximated black powder in terms of chamber pressure when used in firearms, but had significantly reduced amounts of smoke and combustion products; they ranged in color from brownish tan to yellow to white. Most of the bulk semi-smokeless powders ceased to be manufactured in the 1920s.)[2][3][4]

Black powder is a granular mixture of

  • a nitrate, typically potassium nitrate (KNO3), which supplies oxygen for the reaction;
  • charcoal, which provides carbon and other fuel for the reaction, simplified as carbon (C);
  • sulfur (S), which, while also serving as a fuel, lowers the temperature required to ignite the mixture, thereby increasing the rate of combustion.

Potassium nitrate is the most important ingredient in terms of both bulk and function because the combustion process releases oxygen from the potassium nitrate, promoting the rapid burning of the other ingredients.[5] To reduce the likelihood of accidental ignition by static electricity, the granules of modern black powder are typically coated with graphite, which prevents the build-up of electrostatic charge.

Charcoal does not consist of pure carbon; rather, it consists of partially pyrolyzed cellulose, in which the wood is not completely decomposed.

The current standard composition for the black powders that are manufactured by pyrotechnicians was adopted as long ago as 1780. Proportions by weight are 75% potassium nitrate (known as saltpeter or saltpetre), 15% softwood charcoal, and 10% sulfur.[6] These ratios have varied over the centuries and by country, and can be altered somewhat depending on the purpose of the powder. For instance, power grades of black powder, unsuitable for use in firearms but adequate for blasting rock in quarrying operations, is called blasting powder rather than gunpowder with standard proportions of 70% nitrate, 14% charcoal, and 16% sulfur; blasting powder may be made with the cheaper sodium nitrate substituted for potassium nitrate and proportions may be as low as 40% nitrate, 30% charcoal, and 30% sulfur.[7]

Combustion rate

The burn rate of black powder can be changed by corning. Corning first compresses the fine black powder meal into blocks with a fixed density (1.7 g/cm³). The blocks are then broken up into granules. These granules are then sorted by size to give the various grades of black powder. In the United States, standard grades of black powder run from the coarse Fg grade used in large bore rifles and small cannons, through FFg (medium and smallbore arms such as muskets and fusils), FFFg (smallbore rifles and pistols), and FFFFg (extreme small bore, short pistols and most commonly for priming flintlocks). In the United Kingdom, the gunpowder grains are categorised by mesh size: the BSS sieve mesh size, being the smallest mesh size on which no grains were retained. Recognised grain sizes are Gunpowder G 7, G 20, G 40, and G 90.

A simple, commonly cited, chemical equation for the combustion of black powder is

2 KNO3 + S + 3 C → K2S + N2 + 3 CO2.

A more accurate, but still simplified, equation is[8]

10 KNO3 + 3 S + 8 C → 2 K2CO3 + 3 K2SO4 + 6 CO2 + 5 N2.

The burning of gunpowder does not take place as a single reaction, however, and the byproducts are not easily predicted. One study's results showed that it produced (in order of descending quantities): 55.91% solid products: potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, potassium sulfide, sulfur, potassium nitrate, potassium thiocyanate, carbon, ammonium carbonate. 42.98% gaseous products: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, methane, 1.11% water.

Black powder made with sodium nitrate tends to be hygroscopic, unlike black powders made from saltpeter. (In this article, "saltpeter"--also spelled "saltpetre"--means potassium nitrate and not any of the other nitrates that are also sometimes called "saltpeter.") Because black powder made with saltpeter is less affected by moisture in the air, it can be stored unsealed for centuries without degradation if it is kept dry. Muzzleloaders have been known to fire after hanging on a wall for decades in a loaded state, provided they remained dry. By contrast, black powder made with sodium nitrate must be sealed from the moisture in the air to remain stable for long periods.

Advantages

In firearms, black powder allows loading by volumetric measure, whereas smokeless powder requires precise measuring of the charge by weight to prevent damage due to overloading, though damage by overloading is still possible with black powder.

In quarrying, high explosives are generally preferred for shattering rock. However, because of its low brisance, black powder causes fewer fractures and results in more usable stone compared to other explosives, making black powder useful for blasting monumental stone such as granite and marble.

Black powder is well suited for blank rounds, signal flares, burst charges, and rescue-line launches. Black powder is also used in fireworks for lifting shells, in rockets as fuel, and in certain special effects.

Disadvantages

Black powder has low energy density compared to modern smokeless powders and produces a thick smoke that can impair aiming and reveal a shooter's position.

Combustion converts less than half the mass of black powder to gas. The rest ends up as a thick layer of soot inside the barrel. In addition to being a nuisance, the residue from burnt black powder is hygroscopic and a caustic substance. When moisture from the air is absorbed, the potassium oxide or sodium oxide turns into hydroxide, which will corrode wrought iron or steel gun barrels. Black powder arms must be well cleaned both inside and out to remove the residue. The Matchlock musket (an early gun) would be unusable in wet weather due to powder in the pan being exposed and dampened, in which case soldiers would use the ends as clubs or use bayonets.

Transportation

The UN Model Regulations on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods and national transportation authorities, such as United States Department of Transportation, have classified Gunpowder (black powder) as a Group A: Primary explosive substance for shipment because it ignites so easily. Complete manufactured devices containing black powder are usually classified as Group D: Secondary detonating substance, or black powder, or article containing secondary detonating substance, such as firework, class D model rocket engine, etc., for shipment because they are harder to ignite than loose powder. As explosives, they all fall into the category of Class 1.

Energy content

Gunpowder contains 3 megajoules per kilogram, and contains its own oxidant. For comparison, the energy density of TNT is 4.6 megajoules per kilogram, and the energy density of gasoline is 47.2 megajoules per kilogram.[9]

Sulfur-free gunpowder

The development of smokeless powders, such as Cordite, in the late 19th century created the need for a spark-sensitive priming charge, such as gunpowder. However, the sulfur content of traditional gunpowders caused corrosion problems with Cordite Mk I and this led to the introduction of a range of sulfur-free gunpowders, of varying grain sizes.[10] They typically contain 70.5 parts of saltpetre and 29.5 parts of charcoal.[10] Like black powder, they were produced in different grain sizes. In United Kingdom, the finest grain was known as sulfur-free mealed powder (SMP). Coarser grains were numbered as sulfur-free gunpowder (SFG n): 'SFG 12', 'SFG 20', 'SFG 40' and 'SFG 90', for example; where the number represents the smallest BSS sieve mesh size on which no grains were retained.

The main purpose of sulfur in gunpowder is to decrease the ignition temperature. A sample reaction for sulfur-free gunpowder would be

4 KNO3 + C7H8O → 3 K2CO3 + 4 CO2 + 2 H2O + 3 N2

History

File:Chinese rocket.gif
Early Chinese rocket
File:Mooko-Suenaga.jpg
A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging Japanese samurai during the Mongol invasions of Japan after founding the Yuan Dynasty, 1281.
Main article: History of gunpowder

Gunpowder was invented, documented, and used in ancient China where the Chinese military forces used gunpowder-based weapons technology (i.e. rockets, guns, cannons), and explosives (i.e. grenades and different types of bombs) against the Mongols when the Mongols attempted to invade and breach the Chinese city fortifications on the northern borders of China. After the Mongols conquered China and founded the Yuan Dynasty, they used the Chinese gunpowder-based weapons technology in their invasion of Japan. Chinese also used gunpowder to fuel rockets. However, it has also been argued that, like the wheel, gunpowder was "coinvented" or "co-discovered" prior to, simultaneously or slightly after the Chinese, by cultures separated from the Chinese by vast distances, with minimal direct contact between one another.[11][12]

A major problem for academic study is ready access to original sources. Moreover, it is difficult to accurately translate original sources, especially medieval Chinese texts which employ metaphor to describe unexplained phenomena, into contemporary scientific language with its rigidly defined terminology. The difficulty in translation gives rise to errors or loose interpretation bordering on artistic licence.[13][14]

An evaluation of all arguments and thorough literature review is beyond the scope of this article. Rather than take a position, the article will present all arguments to the reader.

China

See also: List of Chinese inventions
File:Ming matchlocks.jpg
Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) matchlock firearms
Saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations.[15] A Chinese alchemical text dated 492 AD noted saltpetre burnt with a purple flame, providing a practical and reliable means of distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, thus enabling alchemists to evaluate and compare purification techniques.[16] The Chinese word for "gunpowder" is
中文:
/xuou yɑʊ/, which literally means "Fire Medicine." [17]

The first reference of gunpowder is possibly the passage of the Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe, a Taoist text tentatively dated to the mid-9th century AD:[16]

Some have heated together sulfur, realgar and saltpeter with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down.[18]

By the 9th century Taoist monks or alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality had serendipitously stumbled upon gunpowder.[19][20]

The Chinese "Wu Ching Tsung Yao", written by Tseng Kung-Liang in 1044, provides encyclopedia references to a variety of mixtures which included petrochemicals, as well as garlic and honey. A slow match for flame throwing mechanisms using the siphon principle and for fireworks and rockets are mentioned. Academics argue the Chinese wasted little time in applying gunpowder to warfare, and they produced a variety of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, and mines, before inventing guns as a projectile weapon.[21]

Middle East

Main articles: Inventions in the Islamic world and Alchemy and chemistry in Islam
File:Dardanelles Gun Turkish Bronze 15c.png
The Sultani Cannon, a very heavy bronze muzzle-loading cannon of type used by Ottoman Empire in the siege of Constantinople, 1453 AD.

The Arabs acquired knowledge of gunpowder some time after 1240 AD, but before 1280 AD, by which time Hasan al-Rammah had written, in Arabic, recipes for gunpowder, instructions for the purification of saltpeter, and descriptions of gunpowder incendiaries.[22] However, because al-Rammah attributes his material to "his father and forefathers", al-Hassan argues that gunpowder became prevalent in Syria and Egypt by "the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth".

File:Ibn Ghanims gun.jpg
A picture of a 15th century Granadian cannon from the book Al-izz wal rifa'a.

Al-Hassan claims that in the Battle of Ain Jalut of 1260 AD, the Mamluks used against the Mongols in "the first cannon in history" gunpowder formulæ with near-identical ideal composition ratios for explosive gunpowder.[23][24] However, Khan claims that it was invading Mongols who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world[25] and cites Mamluk antagonism towards early musketeers in their infantry as an example of how gunpowder weapons were not always met with open acceptance in the Middle East.[26] Similarly, the refusal of their Qizilbash forces to use firearms contributed to the Safavid rout at Chaldiran in 1514.[26]

The earliest surviving documentary evidence for the use of the hand cannon, considered the oldest type of portable firearm and a forerunner of the handgun, are from several Arabic manuscripts dated to the 14th century.[27] Al-Hassan argues that these are based on earlier originals and that they report hand-held cannons being used by the Mamluks at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.[24]

Hasan al-Rammah included 107 gunpowder recipes in his text al-Furusiyyah wa al-Manasib al-Harbiyya (The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices), 22 of which are for rockets. If one takes the median of 17 of these 22 compositions for rockets (75% nitrates, 9.06% sulfur, and 15.94% carbon), it is near identical with the modern reported ideal gunpowder recipe of 75% potassium nitrate, 10% sulfur, and 15% carbon, although this was already known to Roger Bacon[24]

Mainland Europe

C. F. Temler interprets Peter, Bishop of Leon, as reporting the use of cannon in Seville in 1248 AD.[28]

In Norwegian the Konungs skuggsjá of 1250 AD mentions in its military chapter, the use of two key ingredients: "coal and sulphur" as the best weapons for ship-to-ship combat.[29]

Dated around 1257 AD, among the earliest extant written references to gunpowder in Europe, are Roger Bacon's texts Epistola, "De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae et de Nullitate Magiae," dated variously between 1248[30] and 1257,[31] he states:[30]

We can, with saltpeter and other substances, compose artificially a fire that can be launched over long distances... By only using a very small quantity of this material much light can be created accompanied by a horrible fracas. It is possible with it to destroy a town or an army ... In order to produce this artificial lightning and thunder it is necessary to take saltpeter, sulfur, and Luru Vopo Vir Can Utriet.
File:Fortin La Galera 01.jpg
Cannons forged in 1667 AD at the Fortín de La Galera, Nueva Esparta, Venezuela.

The last part has been interpreted as an elaborate coded anagram for the quantities needed, but other academics holding contrary viewpoints argue this may be erroneous transcription of a passage read with much difficulty.[32][33]

Some authors maintain that around 1261, Roger did develop the ideal formula for gunpowder (75% of saltpeter, 15% of carbon and 10% of sulphur)[34]

In the Opus Maior of 1267 AD, Bacon describes firecrackers:[32]

a child’s toy of sound and fire and explosion made in various parts of the world with powder of saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal of hazelwood.[35]
The Liber Ignium, or Book of Fires, attributed to Marcus Graecus, is a collection of incendiary recipes, including some gunpowder recipes. Partington dates the gunpowder recipes to approximately 1300.[36] One recipe for "flying fire" (ingis volatilis) involves saltpetre, sulfur, and colophonium, which, when inserted into a reed or hollow wood, "flies away suddenly and burns up everything." Another recipe, for artificial "thunder", specifies a mixture of one pound native sulfur, two pounds linden or willow charcoal, and six pounds of saltpeter.[37] Another specifies a 1:3:9 ratio.[37]

Some of the gunpowder recipes of De Mirabilibus Mundi of Albertus Magnus are identical to the recipes of the Liber Ignium, and according to Partington, "may have been taken from that work, rather than conversely."[38] Partington suggests that some of the book may have been compiled by Albert's students, "but since it is found in thirteenth century manuscripts, it may well be by Albert."[38] Albertus Magnus died in 1280 AD.

A common German folk-tale is of the German priest/monk named Berthold Schwarz who independently invented gunpowder, thus earning it the German name Schwarzpulver or in English Schwarz's powder. Schwarz is also German for black so this folk-tale, while likely containing elements of truth, is considered problematic.

The major and uniquely European advancement of gunpowder was corning: the addition of moisture to the gunpowder to form regular greater grains which much increased the reliability and consistency of gunpowder. This occurred around the late 15th century CE, as European powdermakers began adding moisture to gunpowder to reduce dust and with it the risk of dust explosion. The powdermakers would then shape the resulting mush of dampened gunpowder, known as mill cake, into corns, or grains, to dry.

The new "corned" powder remained potent and more reliable to store as it was far less hygroscopic than the former powder (due to net reduced surface area). Gunners also found it was more powerful and easier to load measures of it into guns. The main advantage of corning is that the combustion flame spreads evenly between the grains, thus igniting all grains before significant gas expansion (when the gunpowder actually "explodes"). Gunpowder not corned results in much unburnt powder blown away from the ignition flame and combustion chamber due to localized miniature gas expansions within the powder.

Europeans innovated by experimentation and discovering different kernel sizes combusted at differing rates, and thus were more suitable for one gun or for another. Otto notes that without corning, gunpowder like all dry mixtures, has a tendency to gradually demix back into its original components and thus too unreliable for effective use in guns as mixtures would not be of uniform composition, noting the use of corning technique is commonplace in the modern pharmaceutical industry to ensure uniform proportions of active ingredients for each tablet.[39]

Shot and gunpowder for military purposes were made by skilled military tradesmen, later called firemakers, and were also required to craft fireworks for celebrations of victory or peace. During the Renaissance, two European schools of pyrotechnic thought emerged, one in Italy and the other at Nürnberg, Germany. The Italian school of pyrotechnics emphasized elaborate fireworks, and the German school stressed scientific advancement. Both schools added significantly to further development of pyrotechnics, and by the mid-17th century fireworks were used for entertainment on an unprecedented scale in Europe, being popular even at resorts and public gardens.[40]

By 1788, as a result of the reforms for which Lavoisier was mainly responsible, France had become self-sufficient in saltpeter, and its gunpowder had become not only widely considered the best in Europe but more importantly, inexpensive.[41]

The introduction of smokeless powder in the late 19th century led to the contraction of the gunpowder industry.

British Isles

Gunpowder production in England appears to have started in the mid 13th century AD with the aim of supplying The Crown.[42] Records show that gunpowder was being made, in England, in 1346, at the Tower of London; a powder house existed at the Tower in 1461; and in 1515 three King's gunpowder makers worked there.[42] Gunpowder was also being made or stored at other Royal castles, such as Portchester Castle.

File:Irvinepowderhouse2.JPG
The old Powder or Pouther magazine dating from 1642 AD, built by order of James VI. Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

By the early 14th century, according to N.J.G. Pounds's study The Medieval Castle in England and Wales, many English castles had been deserted and others were crumbling. Their military significance faded except on the borders. Gunpowder made smaller castles useless.[43]

Henry VIII of England was short of gunpowder when he invaded France in 1544 AD and England needed to import gunpowder via the port of Antwerp.[42]

The English Civil War, 1642-1645 AD, led to an expansion of the gunpowder industry, with the repeal of the Royal Patent in August 1641.[42]

The introduction of smokeless powder in the late 19th century led to a contraction of the gunpowder industry. After the end of World War I, the majority of the United Kingdom gunpowder manufacturers merged into a single company, "Explosives Trades limited"; and number of sites were closed down, including those in Ireland. This company became Nobel Industries Limited; and in 1926 became a founding member of Imperial Chemical Industries. The Home Office removed gunpowder from its list of Permitted Explosives; and shortly afterwards, on 31 December 1931, the former Curtis & Harvey's Glynneath gunpowder factory at Pontneddfechan, in Wales, closed down, and it was demolished by fire in 1932.[44]

File:Martello2.jpg
gun powder storing barrels at Martello tower in Point Pleasant Park

The last remaining gunpowder mill at the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey was damaged by a German parachute mine in 1941 and it never reopened.[10] This was followed by the closure of the gunpowder section at the Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Chorley, the section was closed and demolished at the end of World War II; and ICI Nobel's Roslin gunpowder factory which closed in 1954.[10][45]

This left the sole United Kingdom gunpowder factory at ICI Nobel's Ardeer site in Scotland; it too closed in October 1976.[10] Since then gunpowder has been imported into the United Kingdom. In the late 1970s / early 1980s gunpowder was bought from eastern Europe, particularly from what was then the East Germany and former Yugoslavia.

India

File:RajaGopalaCannon.JPG
A 17th century Tanjore Nayak kingdom's forge-welded iron cannon, at Thanjavur's eastern entrance (India).

Gunpowder had arrived in India by the mid-14th century, perhaps introduced by the Mongols as early as the mid-13th century.[46][47]

It was written in the Tarikh-i Firishta (1606–1607) that the envoy of the Mongol ruler Hulegu Khan was presented with a dazzling pyrotechnics display upon his arrival in Delhi in 1258 CE.[48] Firearms known as top-o-tufak also existed in the Vijayanagara Empire of India by as early as 1366 AD.[48] From then on the employment of gunpowder warfare in India was prevalent, with events such as the siege of Belgaum in 1473 AD by Sultan Muhammad Shah Bahmani.[49]

By the 16th century, Indians were manufacturing a diverse variety of firearms; large guns in particular, became visible in Tanjore, Dacca, Bijapur and Murshidabad.[50] Guns made of bronze were recovered from Calicut (1504 AD) and Diu (1533 AD).[51] Gujarāt supplied Europe saltpeter for use in gunpowder warfare during the 17th century.[52] Bengal and Mālwa participated in saltpeter production.[52] The Dutch, French, Portuguese, and English used Chāpra as a center of saltpeter refining.[53]

War rockets, mines and counter mines using gunpowder were used in India by the time of Akbar and Jahangir.[51] Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), a Persian-Indian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar the Great in the Mughal Empire, invented an autocannon, early multi-shot gun. As opposed to the polybolos and repeating crossbows used earlier in ancient Greece and China, respectively, Shirazi's rapid-firing gun had multiple gun barrels that fired hand cannons loaded with gunpowder.[54]

Both Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sultan used black powder technology in iron-cased war rockets with considerable effect against the British, which inspired the development of the Congreve rocket.[55]

Indonesia

The Javanese Majapahit Empire is argued to have grown to span most of modern day ASEAN due to its Javanese mastery of bronze-smithing and unique within the immediate region to the Majapahit court, the technology and mass manufacture (via cottage industries which contributed to a central arsenal). Documentary and archeological evidence indicate that Arab or Indian traders introduced gunpowder, gonnes, muskets, blunderbusses, and cannon to the Javanese, Acehnese, and Batak via long established commercial trade routes around the early to mid 14th century CE.[56] Early European aggressors of Portugal and Spain were unpleasantly surprised and outgunned on many occasions.[57] The resurgent Singhasari Empire overtook Sriwijaya and later emerged as the Majapahit who rigidly established fire-arms and cannonade as a feature of warfare.[58]

Circa 1540 CE the Javanese always alert for new weapons found the newly arrived Portuguese weaponry superior to that of the locally made variants. The Javanese bronze breech-loaded swivel-gun, erroneously termed the lantaka, more correctly known as a meriam was used ubiquitously by the Majapahit navy and unfortunately pirates and rival lords. The demise of the Majapahit empire and the flight of disaffected skilled bronze cannon-smiths to Brunei, modern Sumatra and Malaysia, and the Philippines lead to near universal use of the swivel-gun, especially on trade vessels to protect against prevalent marauding pirates, especially in the Makassar Strait.

A Chinese pirate or commercial shipwreck site unearthed a double-ended swivel gun, which enabled swift firing: one barrel would fire whiles its opposite would be reloaded, though this is a rare and unique piece. Other archeological finds have unearthed some triple-barrel and some double-barrel swivel-guns, which were not widely duplicated.

The saltpetre harvesting was recorded by Dutch and German travelers as being common to even the smallest villages and collected from the decomposition process of large goat dung hills specifically piled for collection this saltpetre, a most unpleasant job. Saltpetre must be remembered by today's reader as being a key food preservative agent in a period of no refrigeration.

The Dutch punishment for possession of unpermitted gunpowder appears to have been amputation.[59]

Ownership and manufacture of gunpowder was later prohibited by the colonial Dutch occupiers.[56] Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, from his The History of Java relates the process of powder manufacture, perhaps of noteworthy relevance considering at the time it was a military-related craft and not always recorded:

the best sulphur is supplied from a crater from a mountain near the straits of Bali...in caverns in irregularly formed beds of earth, which being impregnated with the native nitre, saturated with the evacuation of the enumerous bats that haunt these caves is mixed with a compound of wood ashes, supplies the liquid that is boiled in large kettles and afterward left to cool and crystallize.[58]

Manufacturing technology

File:Hagley Mill Equipment.jpg
Edge-runner mill in a restored mill, at Eleutherian Mills

For the most powerful black powder meal, a wood charcoal is used. The best wood for the purpose is Pacific willow,[60] but others such as alder or buckthorn can be used. The ingredients are mixed as thoroughly as possible. This is achieved using a ball mill with non-sparking grinding apparatus (e.g., bronze or lead), or similar device. Historically, a marble or limestone edge runner mill, running on a limestone bed was used in Great Britain; however, by the mid 19th century AD this had changed to either an iron shod stone wheel or a cast iron wheel running on an iron bed.[6] The mix is sometimes dampened with alcohol or water during grinding to prevent accidental ignition.

Around the late 14th century AD, European powdermakers began adding damp to the constituents of gunpowder to reduce dust and with it the risk of explosion.[61] The powdermakers would then shape the resulting paste of dampened gunpowder, known as mill cake, into corns, or grains, to dry. Not only did corned powder keep better because of its reduced surface area, gunners also found that it was more powerful and easier to load into guns. Before long, powdermakers standardized the process by forcing mill cake through sieves instead of corning powder by hand.

During the 18th century gunpowder factories became increasingly dependent on mechanical energy.[62]

Other uses

Besides its habitual use as an explosive, gunpowder has been occasionally employed for other purposes, After the Battle of Aspern-Essling (1809), the surgeon of the Napoleonic Army Larrey combated the lack of food for the wounded under his care by preparing a bouillon of horse meat seasoned with gunpowder for lack of salt.[63][64] It was also used for sterilizing on ships when there was no alcohol.

Christiaan Huygens experimented with gunpowder in 1673 in an early attempt to build an internal combustion engine, but he did not succeed in making a practical engine.

Fireworks and Firecrackers also use gunpowder but use different brands and different chemicals.

Black powder is still used in delay-trains in modern arms. For instance, in a hand grenade, a mechanical striker ignites a percussion primer which ignites a slow black powder delay. The delay burns a few seconds until it gets to the high explosive primary, which detonates, initiating the grenade fill explosive, thus fragmenting the grenade.

See also

Notes

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References

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  • Chase, Kenneth (2003), Firearms: A Global History to 1700, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521822742 .
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  • Khan, Iqtidar Alam (1996a). "The Role of the Mongols in the Introduction of Gunpowder and Firearms in South Asia". Chapter 3, In Buchanan, Brenda J. (1996). Gunpowder: The History of an International Technology. Bath: Bath University Press. (ISBN 0-86197-134-5. 2006 re-issue).
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  • Urbanski, Tadeusz (1967), Chemistry and Technology of Explosives, III, New York: Pergamon Press .

External links

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  1. ↑ Template:Benton
  2. ↑ The History of the 10.4×38 Swiss Cartridge
  3. ↑ Blackpowder to Pyrodex and Beyond by Randy Wakeman at Chuck Hawks
  4. ↑ The History and Art of Shotshells by Jon Farrar, Nebraskaland Magazine
  5. ↑ Buchanan. "Editor's Introduction: Setting the Context", in Buchanan 2006, p. 4.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Earl 1978, Chapter 2: The Development of Gunpowder
  7. ↑ Julian S. Hatcher, Hatcher's Notebook, Military Service Publishing Company, 1947. Chapter XIII Notes on Gunpowder, pages 300-305.
  8. ↑ Flash! Bang! Whiz!, University of Denver
  9. ↑ workshop first week
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Cocroft 2000, "The demise of gunpowder". Chapter 4
  11. ↑ St. C. Easton: "Roger Bacon and his Search for a Universal Science", Oxford (1962)
  12. ↑ Jack Kelly Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Perseus Books Group: 2005, ISBN :0465037224, 9780465037223: 272 pages
  13. ↑ Ingham-Brown, George (1989) The Big Bang: A History of Explosives, Sutton Publishers, ISBN 0750918780, 9780750918787, page vi
  14. ↑ Kelly, Jack (2005) Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Perseus Books Group, ISBN :0465037224, 9780465037223, page 22
  15. ↑ Buchanan. "Editor's Introduction: Setting the Context", in Buchanan 2006.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chase 2003:31–32
  17. ↑ The Big Book of Trivia Fun, Kidsbooks, 2004 
  18. ↑ Kelly 2004:4
  19. ↑ Needham 1986, p. 7 "Without doubt it was in the previous century, around +850, that the early alchemical experiments on the constituents of gunpowder, with its self-contained oxygen, reached their climax in the appearance of the mixture itself."
  20. ↑ Buchanan 2006, p. 2"With its ninth century AD origins in China, the knowledge of gunpowder emerged from the search by alchemists for the secrets of life, to filter through the channels of Middle Eastern culture, and take root in Europe with consequences that form the context of the studies in this volume."
  21. ↑ Chase 2003:1 "The earliest known formula for gunpowder can be found in a Chinese work dating probably from the 800s. The Chinese wasted little time in applying it to warfare, and they produced a variety of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, and mines, before inventing firearms."
  22. ↑ Kelly 2004:22 'Around 1240 AD, Arabs acquired knowledge of saltpeter ("Chinese snow") from the East, perhaps through India. They knew of gunpowder soon afterward. They also learned about fireworks ("Chinese flowers") and rockets ("Chinese arrows"). Arab warriors had acquired fire lances before 1280 AD. Around that same year, a Syrian named Hasan al-Rammah wrote a book that, as he put it, "treats of machines of fire to be used for amusement or for useful purposes." He talked of rockets, fireworks, fire lances, and other incendiaries, using terms that suggested he derived his knowledge from Chinese sources. He gave instructions for the purification of saltpeter and recipes for making different types of gunpowder.'
  23. ↑ Hassan, Ahmad Y. "Transfer of Islamic Technology to the West: Part III". History of Science and Technology in Islam. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 al-Hassan
  25. ↑ Khan 1996
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Khan 2004:6
  27. ↑ Ancient Discoveries, Episode 12: Machines of the East, History Channel, 2007  (Part 4 and Part 5)
  28. ↑ C. F. Temler, Historische Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Kopenhagen ... ubersetzt ... von V. A. Heinze, Kiel, Dresden and Leipzig, 1782, i, 168, as cited in Partington, p. 228, footnote 6.
  29. ↑ "King's Mirror, Chapter XXXVII: The duties, activities and amusements of the Royal Guardsmen". Mediumaevum.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20. , from the Konungs skuggsjá.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Gunpowder", Encyclopedia Britannica, London, 1771 . "frier Bacon, our countryman, mentions the compofition in exprefs terms, in his treatife De nullitate magiæ, publifhed at Oxford, in the year 1248."
  31. ↑ Partington 1960:70-71
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Partington 1960:74
  33. ↑ Cocroft 2000:1 A picture of this handwritten paragraph, taken from the Sloan MSS, held in the British Library is given on page one of Cocroft (2000).
  34. ↑ Kendall F. Haven,100 greatest science inventions of all time p.30-32
  35. ↑ Kelly 2004:25
  36. ↑ Partington 1960:60
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Partington 1960:48–49, 54
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Partington 1960:82–83
  39. ↑ Molerus, Otto. "History of Civilization in the Western Hemisphere from the Point of View of Particulate Technology, Part 2," Advanced Powder Technology 7 (1996): 161-66
  40. ↑ "Fireworks[dead link]," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007 © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Archived 2009-10-31.
  41. ↑ Metzner, Paul (1998), Crescendo of the Virtuoso: Spectacle, Skill, and Self-Promotion in Paris during the Age of Revolution, University of California Press 
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Cocroft 2000, "Success to the Black Art!". Chapter 1
  43. ↑ Ross, Charles. The Custom of the Castle: From Malory to Macbeth. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997. [1] pages 131-130
  44. ↑ Pritchard, Tom; Evans, Jack; Johnson, Sydney (1985), The Old Gunpowder Factory at Glynneath, Merthyr Tydfil: Merthyr Tydfil & District Naturalists' Society 
  45. ↑ MacDougall, Ian (2000), "Oh! Ye had to be Careful": Personal Recollections by Roslin Gunpowder Mill Factory Workers, East Linton: Tuckwell Press, ISBN 1-86232-126-4 
  46. ↑ Chase 2003:130
  47. ↑ Khan (1996a).
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Khan 2004:9–10
  49. ↑ Khan 2004:10
  50. ↑ Partington (Johns Hopkins University Press edition, 1999), 225
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Partington (Johns Hopkins University Press edition, 1999), 226
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 "India." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
  53. ↑ "Chāpra." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
  54. ↑ A. K. Bag (2005), "Fathullah Shirazi: Cannon, Multi-barrel Gun and Yarghu", Indian Journal of History of Science 40 (3), pp. 431-436.
  55. ↑ "rocket and missile system." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Dipanegara, P. B. R. Carey, Babad Dipanagara: an account of the outbreak of the Java war, 1825-30 : the Surakarta court version of the Babad Dipanagara with translations into English and Indonesian volume 9: Council of the M.B.R.A.S. by Art Printing Works: 1981.
  57. ↑ Atsushi Ota, Changes of regime and social dynamics in West Java: society, state, and the outer world of Banten, 1750-1830: BRILL: 2006, ISBN 9004150919: 275 pages.
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Thomas Stamford Raffles, The History of Java, Oxford University Press, 1965, ISBN 0195803477: 1088 pages.
  59. ↑ "no gunpowder greater or shot greater than permitted under the penalty of corporal punishment similar to that inflicted for theft": Thomas Stamford Raffles, The History of Java, Oxford University Press, 1965, ISBN 0195803477: 1088 pages.
  60. ↑ U.S. Department of Agriculture (1917), Department Bulleting No. 316: Willows: Their growth, use, and importance., The Department, p. 31 
  61. ↑ Kelly 2004:60–63
  62. ↑ Frangsmyr, Tore, J. L. Heilbron, and Robin E. Rider, editors The Quantifying Spirit in the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6d5nb455/ p. 292.
  63. ↑ Harold T Parker. (1983 reprint) Three Napoleonic Battles. (2nd Ed). Duke University Press. ISBN 0-82230547-X. Page 83 (in Google Books). Quoting Dominique-Jean Larrey, Mémoires de chirurgie militaire et campagnes, III 281, Paris, Smith.
  64. ↑ Larrey is quoted in French at Dr Béraud, Études Hygiéniques de la chair de cheval comme aliment, Musée des Familles (1841-42).
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