Gunpowder

Gunpowder is a substance that is used as a propellant in firearms. It burns rapidly and produces a large amount of gas, which produces a pressure wave inside the gun barrel, sufficient to propel a shot charge (from a shotgun) or a bullet or projectile (from a rifle or pistol or artillery piece or cannon), but—when loaded in a quantity not too great as to produce a dangerous overload—not sufficient to destroy the barrel. Because of its lower speed of burning and the resultant lower-speed pressure wave, gunpowder is less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications, applications where "high" explosives (e.g. Trinitrotoluene (TNT) or dynamite or other high explosives such as plastic explosive (plastique)) are preferred.

Smokeless vs. Black Powder

Some definitions say that gunpowder is a low explosive. This is correct for black powder, but not for today's smokeless powders.

The United States Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) classifies smokeless powder as a Flammable Solid. This allows containers of 8 pounds or less in approved packages and totaling less than 100 net pounds to be shipped by common carriers, such as UPS. That is definitely not true of dynamite, TNT, or other high explosives. If smokeless powder is burned in the open air, it produces a smoky orange flame, but no explosion. In fact, gasoline is a more dangerous substance than smokeless gunpowder when smokeless powder is unconfined (as opposed to being in a gun charge or in a bomb).

Black powder is different. It is a true low explosive, and burns at almost the same rate when unconfined as when confined. It can be ignited by a spark or static electricity, and must be handled with great caution. Thus it is considerably more dangerous than smookeless powder, and is classified by the ICC as a class-A explosive; consequently, shipping restrictions for black powder are stringent.

Definition

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the English word gunpowder as "An explosive mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, chiefly used in discharging projectiles from guns and for blasting." Defined this way, the word gunpowder is essentially synonymous with black powder.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines gunpowder as "Any of various explosive powders used to propel projectiles from guns, especially a black mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur."

Biochemist and scientific historian Joseph Needham uses the word gunpowder to refer not only to the explosive as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, but also to previous concoctions (outlined in 5 stages) of combustible material mixed with saltpeter. The first three stages Needham calls "proto-gunpowders," advocating his view of the evolution of low-nitrate, low carbon proto-gunpowders into modern forms of gunpowder with higher levels of nitrate and carbon in the form of charcoal.. After the third stage (in the 11th century), a formula closer to that of modern blackpowder-type gunpowder, with higher levels of saltpeter, takes form. From this perspective, Needham outlines the evolutionary stages of gunpowder formulas over time, with different levels of combustion:

Slow burning

Old incendiaries using oil, pitch, sulfur, etc., which Needham asserts would have been the available concoction used by the 10th century for the launching of Chinese Fire Arrows in warfare.

Quick burning

Distilled petroleum or naptha (i.e. Greek Fire), a slightly more effective incendiary used in hurled, breakable earthenware pots or in the igniting of double-piston flamethrowers used in China by the 10th century, when the formula of Greek Fire was spread to China from the Arabs, Arabia being one of China's maritime contacts through the Indian Ocean since the 7th century.

Deflagration

Low-nitrate powders that are still considered incendiary, but now contain charcoal. This is the turning point from which proto-gunpowder turns into mixtures he calls "true gunpowder". A Chinese book of 1044 C.E. (the Wujing Zongyao described in the section below) was the first to record saltpeter explosives including sulfur and charcoal, although many other ingredients were included in the mixture. For example, a certain mixture filling a soft-casing bomb in the Wujing Zongyao had 20 oz. of sulfur, 40 oz. of saltpetre, 5 oz. of charcoal, and 14.7 oz. of additional substances (such as tung oil and pitch).

Explosion

This mixture has a considerably higher proportion of potassium nitrate to combustible material (for example, a mixture of sulfur, saltpetre, charcoal, arsenic, and other materials). This explosion has the potential to burst through thin-walled containers of cast iron or other metals. Such mixtures were created in China by the 12th century and used frequently in warfare.

Detonation

This stage is when the nitrate content of a gunpowder solution has reached the level of 'modern gunpowder', meaning the proportion of saltpetre, sulfur, and charcoal follow the ratio of 75:15:10 respectively, and are the sole ingredients of the formula. Thin metal containers burst with a loud noise, tearing, scattering, and leaving debris, while it is now a full propellant suitable for cannons and guns having metal barrels of considerable strength. By the 14th century China, Europe, India, and the Islamic world employed its use, usually in warfare.

Principle of Action of Gunpowder

Nitrates have the property to release oxygen when heated, and the oxygen is essential to fast burning of carbon and sulfur, therefore resulting in an explosion-like chemical reaction when gunpowder is ignited. Carbon burning consumes oxygen and produces heat, which produces even more oxygen, etc. The presence of nitrates is crucial to gunpowder composition because the oxygen released by the heat makes burning of carbon and sulfur so much faster that it results in an explosive action, although mild enough not to destroy the barrels of the firearms . The action of gunpowder therefore can be simplistically described as "very fast burning" and is quite mild as opposed to that of brisant explosives, which react so fast that a shock wave is produced which acts more like a hammer-strike than a pressure build-up.

Composition

Black powder is a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate or, less frequently, sodium nitrate), charcoal and sulfur with a ratio (by weight) of approximately 15:3:2 respectively. Modern black powder also typically has a small amount of graphite added to it, to reduce the likelihood of static electricity causing loose black powder to ignite. The ratio has changed over the centuries of its use, and can be altered somewhat depending on the purpose of the powder.

Historically, potassium nitrate was extracted from manure by a process superficially similar to composting. "Nitre beds" took about a year to produce crystallized potassium nitrate. It could also be mined from caves with high concentrations of potassium nitrate, often resulting from the residue from bat dung accumulating over millennia.

Disadvantages of black powder

The main disadvantages of black powder are a relatively low energy density (compared to modern smokeless powders); the extremely large quantities of soot and solid residues left behind; and a dense cloud of white smoke. During the combustion process, less than half of black powder is converted to gas. The rest ends up as a thick layer of soot inside the barrel. In addition to being a nuisance, the residue in the barrel is hygroscopic and an anhydrous caustic substance. When moisture from the air is absorbed, the potassium oxide or sodium oxide turn into hydroxides, which will corrode wrought iron or steel gun barrels. Black powder arms must be well cleaned inside and out after firing to remove the residue. The thick smoke of black powder is also a tactical disadvantage, as it can quickly become so opaque as to impair aiming; it also reveals the shooter's position.

Advantages of black powder

The size of the granule of powder and the confinement determine the burn rate of black powder. Finer grains result in greater surface area, which results in a faster burn. Tight confinement in the barrel causes a column of black powder to explode, which is the desired result. Not seating the bullet firmly against the powder column can result in a harmonic shockwave, which can create a dangerous over-pressure condition and damage the gun barrel. One of the advantages of black powder is that precise loading of the charge is not as vital as with smokeless powder firearms and is carried out using volumetric measures rather than precise weight. However, damage to a gun and its shooter due to overloading is still possible.

Black powder is well suited for blank rounds, signal flares, and rescue line launches. It can be used to make fireworks by mixing it with chemical compounds that produce the desired color.

Smokeless Powder

Today—although blackpowder and its modern derivatives, especially Pyrodex and formed black powder, do still have some major uses—almost all ammunition used in guns throughout the world (except for muzzleloaders and some military cannons and artillery pieces) is loaded with smokeless powder.

Smokeless powder is made in two types: single base or double base. Single base smokeless powder is more prevalent, and is made from nitrocellulose. Double base powder contains both nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose.

Smokeless powder is made in a large number of burning rates, from fastest (used in pistols and light target-type shotgun loads in 12 gauge guns) to slowest (used in large-capacity magnum rifle rounds loaded with heavy bullets, as well as in some artillery pieces and cannons). Manufacture of smokeless powder is a complicated and expensive process. Burning rates of the resulting powder are controlled by kernel size and deterrent coating applied to the kernels. Graphite is applied finally to make the powder flow better and to reduce static electricity.

Smokeless powder is made in three forms of granules: flakes, cylinders or extruded grains (these grains look like short sections of pencil lead), and round balls (known as ball powder). The flakes and extruded grains are actually perforated with a tiny hole; both are made by extruding the powder, and then cutting it to length (while wet). Ball powder is cut into very small pieces while wet, and then formed into spheres. The flake powders are usually the fastest burning, while the extruded grains are slower burning. Ball powders are a more recent development than flake and extruded grain types, and can range in burning rate from medium to nearly the slowest. Ball powders also flow best through powder measures, and are intended to burn at a lower flame temperature, making them less erosive to rifle barrels.

History and Development of Gunpowder Technology

The earliest clear and certain references to saltpetre explosives come from China. Joseph Needham claimed that ancient Chinese alchemists were probably the first to develop an early form of gunpowder, as part of their search for elixirs of immortality. He noted that only in China was there evidence of the precursors of black powder (Needham's 'proto-gunpowders' and early 'true gunpowders'), while in Europe, black powder is noted to appear suddenly and already relatively developed in recipes incorporating saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal (and early on, other adulterants). Needham called gunpowder one of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China.

The word 'gunpowder', widely defined, should include all mixtures of saltpetre, sulphur and carbonaceous material; but any composition not containing charcoal, as for example those which incorporated honey, may be termed 'proto-gunpowder'. Our word gunpowder arises from the fact that Europe knew it only for cannon or hand-guns. In China, however prototype mixtures were known to alchemists, physicians and perhaps fireworks technicians, for their deflagrative properties, some time before they began to be used as weapons. Hence the Chinese name for gunpowder, huo yao, literally 'fire-chemical' or 'fire drug'.

That places the invention of gunpowder in China, no later than the eleventh century. Although the earliest clear, written reference to black powder by itself, without other ingredients, was by Roger Bacon in England in 1267, Bacon implied that he did not invent it himself, and that the technology was already widespread in his time.

Most scholars believe that saltpeter explosives developed into an early form of black powder in China, and that this technology spread west from China to the Middle East and then Europe, possibly via the Silk Road. Bert S. Hall promotes the view that many cultures contributed to the development of gunpowder in its ultimate form.

Gunpowder is not, of course, an 'invention' in the modern sense, the product of a single time and place; no individual's name can be attached to it, nor can that of any single nation or region. Fire is one of the primordial forces of nature, and incendiary weapons have had a place in armies' toolkits for almost as long as civilized states have made war.

Claims of Non-Chinese Invention

Claims for Arab-Muslim Invention

Saltpetre combustion technology spread to the Arabs in the 13th century. Around 1240 the Arabs acquired knowledge of saltpeter ("Chinese snow"). They knew of gunpowder soon afterward. They also learned about fireworks ("Chinese flowers") and rockets ("Chinese arrows").

Some scholars have claimed that the Chinese only developed saltpeter for use in fireworks and knew of no tactical military use for gunpowder, which was first developed by Muslims, as were fire-arms, and that the first documentation of a cannon was in an Arabic text around 1300 C.E.

Claims for Invention in India

Gunpowder arrived in India perhaps as early as the mid-1200s, when the Mongols could have introduced it, but in any event no later than the mid-1300s. It was written in the Tarikh-i Firishta (1606-1607) that the envoy of the Mongol conqueror Hulegu Khan was presented with a dazzling pyrotechnics display upon his arrival in Delhi in 1258 C.E. Firearms known as top-o-tufak also existed in the Vijayanagara Empire of India by as early as 1366 C.E. From then on the employment of gunpowder warfare in India was prevalent, with events such as the siege of Belgaum in 1473 C.E. by the Sultan Muhammad Shah Bahmani.

Asitesh Bhattacharya cites a number of studies, most from the 19th century, to argue that gunpowder was invented in ancient India.

In 1848, Professor Wilson, speaking to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta (of which he was Director), said,

The question as to the knowledge of gunpowder or any similar explosive substance, by the ancient people of India is one of great historical interest. [O]ur acquaintance with their literature, is as yet, too imperfect to warrant a reply in the negative because we have not met with a positive account of the invention.

Gunpowder in Europe

The earliest extant written reference to gunpowder in Europe is in Roger Bacon's "De nullitate magiæ" at Oxford in 1234. In Bacon's "De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae" in 1248, he states:

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.

The last part is probably some sort of coded anagram for the quantities needed.

In the Opus Maior he describes firecrackers around 1267:

a child’s toy of sound and fire made in various parts of the world with powder of saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal of hazelwood.

This is the earliest recipe given by Joseph Needham for pure black powder from anywhere in the world. This does not necessarily prove that black powder ("gunpowder," following the OED definition) was invented in Europe, however. Roger Bacon does not claim to have invented black powder himself, and his reference to "various parts of the world" implies that black powder was already widespread when he was writing.

Europe soon surpassed the rest of the world in gunpowder technology, especially during the late 14th century with the development of the process of black powder "corning". Corning involves forcing damp powder through a sieve to form it into granules which harden when dry, preventing the component ingredients of gunpowder from separating over time, thus making it far more reliable and consistent. It also allowed for more powerful and faster ignition, since the spaces between the particles allowed for oxygen necessary for speedy combustion.

Shot and gunpowder for military purposes were made by skilled military tradesmen, who later were called firemakers, and who also were required to make 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.

By 1788, as a result of the reforms for which the famed chemist Lavoisier was mainly responsible, France had become self-sufficient in saltpeter, and its gunpowder had become both the best in Europe and inexpensive.

Gunpowder production in the United Kingdom

Gunpowder production in the United Kingdom appears to have started in the mid 13th century with the aim of supplying The Crown. 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. Gunpowder was also being made or stored at other Royal castles, such as Portchester Castle and Edinburgh castle.

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

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

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

The Home Office removed gunpowder from its list of Permitted Explosives, on 31 December 1931, Curtis & Harvey's Glynneath gunpowder factory at Pontneddfechan, in Wales, closed down, and it was demolished by fire in 1932.

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. 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.

This left the sole United Kingdom gunpowder factory at ICI Nobel's Ardeer site in Scotland. (The Nobel factory had been founded by Alfred Nobel, the iventor of dynamite.) In the late 1970s / early 1980s gunpowder was bought from eastern Europe; particularly from, what were then, the East Germany and Yugoslavia.

Gunpowder production in the United States

Prior to the American Revolutionary War very little gunpowder had been made in the Colonies that became the United States; as British Colonies, most of their gunpowder had been imported from Britain. In October 1777 the British Parliament banned the importation of gunpowder into America. Gunpowder, however, was secretly obtained from France and the Netherlands.

The first domestic supplies of gunpowder were made by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The company had been founded in 1802 by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, two years after he and his family left France to escape the French Revolution. They set up a gunpowder mill on the Brandywine Creek at Wilmington, Delaware based on gunpowder machinery bought from France and site plans for a gunpowder mill supplied by the French Government. Starting, initially, by reworking damaged gunpowder and refining saltpetre for the US Government they quickly moved into gunpowder manufacture.

In the 20th Century, DuPont manufactured smokeless gunpowder under the designation IMR (Improved Military Rifle). The gunpowder division of DuPont was eventually sold off as a separate company, known as IMR; it manufactured its gunpowder in Canada. Still later, in the 21st Century, the IMR company was bought out by the Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc., based in Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

The Hodgdon Company was originally started by Bruce Hodgdon shortly after World War II. Hodgdon bought large quantities of surplus powder from the U.S. government and repackaged it and sold it to sportsmen. Hodgdon eventually became the largest powder supplier in the United States. Hodgdon bought powder from various manufacturers around the world, including Nobel in Scotland, Olin in the U.S., a manufacturer in Australia, and others, and repackaged and sold this powder under its own brand name and designations. Hodgdon also manufactured Pyrodex, a modern and improved form of black powder.

Other present-day U.S. manufacturers and suppliers of gunpowder include Winchester/Olin, Western Powders (Accurate Arms and Ramshot powders), and Alliant (formerly Hercules). Vita Vuori gunpowders from Finland, Norma gunpowder from Sweden, and some powders from other manufacturers are also available and frequently used by American shooters.

In the United States, saltpetre was worked in the "nitre caves" of Kentucky at the beginning of the 19th century.

Gunpowder in the Modern Age

In 1846, both nitrocelluslose and nitroglycerin were forst produced in Europe, and this initiated the era or modern smokeless propellants. Nitrocellulose, once known as "guncotton" is made by treating cellulose with nitric and sulphoric acids. This made an unstable product that resulted in numerous accidents. But in 1884 it was discovered that guncotton could be made into a gelatin by treating it with alcohol and ether, and then it could be rolled into sheets and cut into pieces and stabilized by treating it with diphenylamine. In 1884, it was discovered that the fibrous guncotton could be gelatinized by treating it with a mixture of alcohol and ether. The resulting product could be rolled into sheets, cut into squares and strips, and stabilized by adding up to 2 percent diphenylamine. The result—the first successful single base powder—was called "Poudre B" by the French, who went on to design the first modern small bore military cartridge, known as the 8mm Lebel, and a new rifle, the Model 1886 Lebel, using it.

Nitrocellulose is the basic material in many harmless, domestic products including celluloid plastic, early photographic film, rayon, fingernail polish and lacquer, so it is not rare. In fact, a large amount of gunpowder is made by reclaiming nitrocellulose.

In 1888, Alfred Nobel used nitroglycerin to gelatinize nitrocellulose, increasing the energy of the powder and producing a new smokeless powder named "Ballistite." Ballistite was the first successful "double-base" powder, and it began to be produced in 1889 at the Nobel factory in Ardeer, Scotland.

In that same year, the British developed a smokeless powder using a combination of 58 percent nitroglycerin, 37 percent guncotton, and 5 percent vaseline. This made a paste that was squeezed through a die to form strings or cords. The resulting product was called "Cordite" and was used to load rifle and pistol rounds. Cordite has been obsolete for years, although writers of spy and mystery literature still sometimes mistakenly refer to it as being used in modern ammunition. (When a modern writer uses a locution such as "the smell of Cordite," you can be sure he is ignorant of firearms and gunpowder!)

So the essential chemistry of modem smokeless powders had been worked out by 1890. Today we still use single base and double base powders.

Three important developments for loaders of ammunition have occurred since 1890.

First, ball powder, a double base powder, was invented in 1933. It is made by dissolving nitrocellulose in ethyl acetate, and forming the round grains under water. The grains are then impregnated with nitroglycerin and a deterrent coating is added to them to control the burning rate.

Second a global trade in canister-grade powders began, through which which Hodgdon, for example, imported powder from Australia to America, and Accurate Arms imported powder made in the Czech Republic.

The third was cleaner burning powder achieved through improved manufacturing techniques and quality control. They typically contain 70.5 parts of saltpetre and 29.5 parts of charcoal.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Ajram, K. (1992), The Miracle of Islamic Science, Knowledge House, ISBN 0911119434 
• Brown, G. I. (1998), The Big Bang: A History of Explosives, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1878-0 
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• Crosby, Alfred W. (2002), Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521791588 
• Elliot, Henry M. (1875), The History of India: As told by its own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, vol. VI (2006: Elibron Classics Replica ed.), USA: Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 0543947149 .
• Guilmartin, John Francis (1974), Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing technology and Mediterranean warfare at sea in the sixteenth century, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521202728 
• Kelly, Jack (2004), Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Basic Books, ISBN 0465037186 
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See also

• Arquebus
• Brown powder
• Cannon
• Elizabethton, Tennessee (American Revolution)
• Firearms
• Firework
• Gonne
• Gunpowder Plot
• Gunpowder warfare
• Guns
• Huolongjing
• Musket
• W231

External links

• http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/history.html Ulrich Bretschler's Gunpowder Chemistry page]. www.musketeer.ch.
• Gun and Gunpowder. www.silk-road.com.
• The Origins of Gunpowder. www.geocities.com.
• Cannons and Gunpowder. www.du.edu.
• History of Science and Technology in Islam. www.gabarin.com.
• A letter on gunpowder chemistry and sodium vs. potassium nitrate. www.rsc.org.
• Oare Gunpowder Works, Kent, UK. www.gunpowderworks.co.uk.
• Royal Gunpowder Mills. www.royalgunpowdermills.com.

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