Gunpowder was discovered around 850 by Chinese alchemists. Since that time, development of gunpowder has become the longest thread of technological development in recorded history. In turn, gunpowder has had a major impact on history. Gunpowder forever changed the face of warfare, enabled monarchs to build nation-states, and advanced science. Perhaps most important, gunpowder made all men equal, as personal safety no longer depended on physical strength or training.

Gunpowder is at once an art and a science. The science is in the understanding of the physical nature of the substance. The art is in the application of this knowledge by gunners.

Although the development of gunpowder was fitful and haphazard, many famous men of history were involved in this effort. To mention just a few, we could include Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Issac Newton, Antoine Lavoisier, Alexander Forsyth, E.I. DuPont, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson Davis.

Blackpowder Breakdown
Blackpowder is a mechanical mixture of three natural ingredients that do not undergo chemical change during manufacture: potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur. Tests in the late 1800s confirmed the ideal mixture of the components to be: 75 percent potassium nitrate, 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulfur.

By comparison, smokeless powder is a mixture of ingredients that undergo chemical change during manufacture. The basic ingredients are cellulose and concentrated nitric acid in the presence of sulfuric acid. This process is called nitration as it adds nitrogen and oxygen atoms to the cellulose molecules. The nitrated cellulose--now nitrocellulose--is then dissolved in a mixture of ether and alcohol to form a colloid that can be rolled into sheets or extruded into rods, dried, cut into flakes or tubes, and then coated with graphite.

How Blackpowder Works
When ignited, blackpowder burns--deflagrates or releases stored energy--at a temperature in excess of 2,135 degrees centigrade, forming hot, rapidly expanding gases. These gases are a product of potassium nitrate oxidizing the sulfur and charcoal in a complex series of reactions to form three gases--carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen--and three solids--potassium carbonate, potassium sulphate, and potassium sulfide. Taken together, the three gases constitute approximately 45 percent of the products of combustion, while the remaining 55 percent are solids that make up the smoke and residue left in the gun barrel. The sulphide is the cause of the stench in powder smoke.

In generating these gases, the volume of the blackpowder expands more than 3,600 times, releasing heat and creating pressure in the order of 20 tons per square inch. Blackpowder will burn equally well in a vacuum, as the potassium nitrate provides the oxygen for the reaction. In its normal form of randomly shaped grains, blackpowder is not progressive burning.

Blackpowder can be made without sulfur; however, such powders are hard to ignite. Sulfur lowers the ignition temperature and improves homogeneity.