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Gun Powder

The document discusses the history and development of gunpowder. It states that gunpowder was likely discovered in China in 1000AD and was known to be a saltpeter-based mixture. Two individuals commonly associated with early knowledge of gunpowder recipes in Europe were Roger Bacon in 1242AD and Berthold Schwartz in the late 13th century. The document goes on to describe the composition and burning properties of early black powder and later developments of smokeless powder in the late 19th century using nitrocellulose as the main ingredient.

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222 views20 pages

Gun Powder

The document discusses the history and development of gunpowder. It states that gunpowder was likely discovered in China in 1000AD and was known to be a saltpeter-based mixture. Two individuals commonly associated with early knowledge of gunpowder recipes in Europe were Roger Bacon in 1242AD and Berthold Schwartz in the late 13th century. The document goes on to describe the composition and burning properties of early black powder and later developments of smokeless powder in the late 19th century using nitrocellulose as the main ingredient.

Uploaded by

kimberlyn odoño
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A.


Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.
Gun Powder

 Propellant or Power charge


 mixture of chemicals of various compositions
designed to propel the projectile.
 By means of its expansive force of gas when
bummed.
The Development of Gun Powder

 Most controversial
 Powders and explosives are at most times credited to the Chinese and the Arabs.
- pyrotechnic composition of sorts --fireworks long before anything of the kind was
known in Europe.
- no warrant for considering that they had invented guns and gun powder.
 Chinese knew about saltpeter-based gunpowder in 1000AD, according to Prof. J.K.
Partington, a British Chemist.
 Where it was discovered, who first used it for guns, and who invented it is still a mystery
by a lack of proof beyond doubt as to the claim of various writers as to who invented the
gunpowder and realized its capabilities.
The Development of Gun Powder

 Two of the most popular individual in the discovery of gun powder:


* Roger Bacon (1242 A.D.) - Franciscan monk
- first European to describe in detail the process of making gunpowder
- " De Mirabili Potestate Artis et Naturae” (On the Marvelous
Power of Art and Nature), including an anagram.
Anagram- was only re-arranged and properly punctuated by a British
Artillery Officer named Colonel Hime, and it read —" but of saltpeter taken seven-part,
five of young hazel twig and five of sulfur, and so they wilt call up thunder and
destruction of thou know the art’.
- working gunpowder formula
The Development of Gun Powder

 Berthold Schwartz – (Constantin Anklitzen)


- mysterious monk of Freiburg
- experimenting on some powder in a cast iron vessel
he ignited a charge and thus view off the lid, and from this deduced the
principle of containing a charge in a tube and propelling a shot
(Encyclopedia of ammunition).

Another person in the year 1325 A.D. wrote his own literary work entitled “De
Offices Regnum’, which illustrated the firing of a cannon.
Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A.


Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.
Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


 Explosives

- any substance that may cause an explosion by its sudden


decomposition or combustion. It is material either a pure single substance or
a mixture of substances which is capable of producing an explosion by its
energy.

 Classification of Explosives

1. Propellants or low explosives - burns but do not explode and function


by producing gas that produces an
explosion.

2. Primary explosive or initiators - explodes or detonate when they are


heated or subjected to shock.

3. High explosives - detonate under the influence of the shock of the


explosion of a primary explosive.
 Other forms of Explosives

• Nitroglycerine (NG) - high explosive substance widely used in industrial


explosives.

- main component of many dynamites.

- oily liquid made of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and


glycerine.

• Trinitrotoluene (TNT) - is the most widely used explosive usually used in


military explosives.

• RDX - hexogen or cyclonite o, cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. It is the


most important military explosive used today.

• Bomb - a hollow projectile of iron generally spherical containing an


explosive material that is fired by the concussion of by time fuse.
Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


The Black Powder

 oldest known explosive


 initially made from saltpeter (75%), charcoal (15%), and sulfur (10%).
 mixture is ground into fine dust, called “Serpentine”
 a “corned powder was used to replace serpentine, for being more stable, due to
its high sensitivity leading to accidents modifications had been made to develop
other forms.
 whatever forms or composition of black powders there is generally a great
disadvantage of this powder.
Smokeless Powder

 problems in the use of black powder were later remedied with the
introduction of smokeless powder.
 According to Harrison, Captain E. Schultze of the Prussian Army made the
1st successful use of smokeless powder in the shotgun in the year 1864.
 nitroglycerine compound was first discovered in 1846.
• Nitrocellulose - basic ingredient
- first produced by adding nitric acid to cellulose
fiber.
 M. Vieille of French - developed the first smokeless powder for riffle in the year 1884
named it “Poudre B” taken after Gen. Boulanger’s name.

 Alfred Nobel - invented a smokeless powder with nitroglycerine (40% and


nitrocellulose (60%) as the main composition called it “Ballistite” in 1887.

 In Great Britain, they utilized picric acid in addition to cellulose powder which they
called ‘Lyddite’ while in Germany TNT (Tri-nitrololeune) was used.
 In the year 1889, Prof. Abel, a British War dept. Chemists developed “Cordite” a
smokeless powder with the same composition as Nobel in the form of cords or sticks.
 In the early 1890s smokeless powder had replaced black powder and became uniformly
used worldwide by the year 1900.
Propellant (Gun Powder)

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.


Thank you for Listening

Retome, Rexille Joyce A. Patacsil, Christine Cate B. Odono, Kimberlyn F.

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