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Gun Powder

The stuff that goes BOOM.

Julie Amin

Chemistry 101

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Chemical Composition

Gunpowder, also more commonly known in the19th century as black powder for its color and

consistency is made of sulfur, charcoal, andpotassium nitrate.

The sulfur is not necessarily needed in thepropellant, but it definitely makes it much, muchmore potent.

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The first two are common balanced equation for gunpowder

2 KNO3 + S + 3 C K2S + N2 + 3 CO2

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

These next two are the balanced decomposition of gunpowder, the first withSulfer, the second without.

4KNO3 + C7H4O + 2 S > 2 K2S + 4 CO2 + 3 CO + 2 H2O + 2 N2

6 KNO3 + C7H4O > 3 K2CO3 + CO2 + 6 CO + 2 H2O + 2 N2

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What Could This Be Used For IWonder?

Gunpowder today is most

commonly used in fireworks.This is mostly because it notclassified a high explosive, and

therefore does not create asupersonic pressure wave.

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What DoWe Use Now If Not Black Powder?

Black powder, gunpowder, has wildly been

replaced with more fervent explosives

These explosives by and large are smokeless,

making them preferable in firearms, and muchhigher yield, making them preferable indemolition.

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The Origins of the Big Boom

China was the first nation to develop andimplement gunpowder

Its uses were fairly straight forward, ignitea projectile at an opposing army and haveit blow up on them, simple enough, right?

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Do Inventions Really Take An Act of War?

The Chinese invented black powder in responseto the threat of the Mongols invading China

from the North, so I guess wars really do bringabout leaps in technology.

Unfortunately, the Mongols still conqueredChina and later employed the explosive powderduring their invasion of Japan.

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Gunpowder? Medicinal? Perhaps

The Chinese also have documented asearly as the first century AD as usingsaltpeter, another term for a very slowburning chemical powder, which isdistinguishable from normal fires

because of its purple flame. It was usedto treat some wounds, external illnesses

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So,What Really is Gunpowder??

Well, if you must know, gunpowder isactually classified as a lowexplosive. Gunpowder? Really? A lowexplosive. In fact it is a low explosive.This is due to the fact of its low

decomposition rate, which is laymansterms is how fast it goes boom.

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The Evolution of Blackpowder

Blackpowder, the black dust that goesboom, has come a long way since the times

of the Mongols. It was cannot even becalled Blackpowder anymore. There arealmost countless replacements for the lowyield explosive. Plastic, synthetic, explosiveshave by and large replaced blackpowderexplosives.

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How Did That Get Here??

Gunpowder was invented in China, and it spread throughthe Middle East and into Europe.

Although the Chinese had used it some 800 years prior tothe Middle East and Europe.

By the late Thirteenth Century there were many knownand documented recipes for gunpowder and saltpeterpurification techniques.

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Would You Like To See Some Examples?

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Maybe a Few More?

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Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpowder#Black_powder

Encyclopedia Brittanica