Black powder

Black powder in a glass jar

Black powder, also known as gunpowder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpetre). The sulfur and carbon act as fuels while the saltpetre is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, and road building.

Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed, but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. It thus makes a good propellant, but is less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications with its low-yield explosive power. Nonetheless it was widely used to fill fused artillery shells (and used in mining and civil engineering projects) until the first high explosives were put into use.

the exact chemical mix varies but the widely accepted best and most efficient is 1. 75% saltpetre (potassium nitrate) 2. 15% charcoal 3. 10%sulfur the mixing and constancy of the gun powder is important generally the finer the individual particles are the higher performance

Dependencies

• Saltpeter
  • Black powder

See also

• Dynamite
• Fire
• Nitroglycerin
• Explosives
• Smokeless powder

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Gunpowder, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).