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Gunpowder

 

            
            
             Gunpowder was one of the most important powders in our life years ago. But how did it come to be so important? What are its uses? What is its chemical composition? How does it work? What is the chemical reaction? All of these questions about this important powder will be answered throughout this essay. .
             Military History and Uses.
             Even though the first to mix potassium nitrate and carbonaceous fuel into an explosive mixture was the Chinese, as they used this invention for fireworks, the true discovers of this magical powder are not fully known. Most will credit the Chinese, as they were the first to mix these compounds somewhere in the early 10th century; however, some also credit the Arabs, as by the end of the 13th century they had invented the very first gun, which used gunpowder to propel arrows through a bamboo shaft, which proved to be very effective and very deadly. Until as late as 1450, gunpowder was a compound made up of more then half potassium nitrate, one quarter sulfur, and one quarter charcoal. However, in 1488 the French further investigated the ratio of these three parts and came out with a much more effective powder that was more then 75% KNO3, 15% C, and only 10% S. .
             This blueprint for making gunpowder remain unchanged all the way up until 1860, when a man named T.J Rodman discovered a new way of making this powder in a military arsenal in Philadelphia. He discovered that there was a great advantage that if one was to compress the powder charge into a pack with a diameter slightly less then that of the bore of a cannon, and add a central hole in the middle, the gunpowder would be much more powerful, meaning that bullets and cannons would shoot much farther. This is because the powder would now have initially small surface area, allowing the powder to increase in surface area as the combustion progressed, which would in turn delay the maximum amount of energy that is released by the powder until the shot had begun to travel.


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