Sulfur-free gunpowder
The development of
smokeless powders, such as
Cordite, in the late 19th century created the need for a spark-sensitive
priming charge, such as gunpowder. However, the sulfur content of traditional gunpowders caused
corrosion problems with Cordite Mk I and this led to the introduction of a range of sulfur-free gunpowders, of varying grain sizes.
[10] They typically contain 70.5 parts of saltpetre and 29.5 parts of charcoal.
[10] Like black powder, they were produced in different grain sizes. In United Kingdom, the finest grain was known as
sulfur-free mealed powder (
SMP). Coarser grains were numbered as sulfur-free gunpowder (SFG n): 'SFG 12', 'SFG 20', 'SFG 40' and 'SFG 90', for example; where the number represents the smallest BSS
sieve mesh size on which no grains were retained.
The main purpose of sulfur in gunpowder is to decrease the ignition temperature. A sample reaction for sulfur-free gunpowder would be
4 KNO3 + C7H8O → 3 K2CO3 + 4 CO2 + 2 H2O + 3 N2
[edit] History
Early Chinese rocket
A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging
Japanese samurai during the
Mongol invasions of Japan after founding the
Yuan Dynasty, 1281.
Main article:
History of gunpowder
Gunpowder was invented, documented, and used in
ancient China where the Chinese military forces used gunpowder-based weapons technology (i.e.
rockets,
guns,
cannons), and
explosives (i.e.
grenades and different types of
bombs) against the
Mongols when the Mongols attempted to invade and breach the Chinese city fortifications on the northern borders of China. After the Mongols conquered China and founded the Yuan Dynasty, they used the Chinese gunpowder-based weapons technology in their invasion of Japan. Chinese also used gunpowder to fuel
rockets. However, it has also been argued that, like the wheel, gunpowder was "coinvented" or "co-discovered" prior to, simultaneously or slightly after the Chinese, by cultures separated from the Chinese by vast distances, with minimal direct contact between one another.
[11][12]
A major problem for academic study is ready access to original sources. Moreover, it is difficult to accurately translate original sources, especially medieval Chinese texts which employ metaphor to describe unexplained phenomena, into contemporary scientific language with its rigidly defined terminology. The difficulty in translation gives rise to errors or loose interpretation bordering on
artistic licence.
[13][14]
An evaluation of all arguments and thorough
literature review is beyond the scope of this article. Rather than take a position, the article will present all arguments to the reader.
[edit] China
Further information:
Four Great Inventions of ancient China,
List of Chinese inventions, and
History of science and technology in China
Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD)
matchlock firearms
Saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of
saltpeter and
sulfur in various largely
medicinal combinations.
[15] A Chinese alchemical text dated 492 AD noted saltpetre burnt with a purple flame, providing a practical and reliable means of distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, thus enabling alchemists to evaluate and compare purification techniques.
[16] The Chinese word for "gunpowder" is
Chinese: 火药/火藥;
pinyin:
huŏ yào /xuou yɑʊ/, which literally means "Fire Medicine."
[17]
The first reference of gunpowder is possibly the passage of the
Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe, a
Taoist text tentatively dated to the mid-9th century AD:
[16]
Some have heated together
sulfur,
realgar and
saltpeter with
honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down.
[18]
By the 9th century
Taoist monks or
alchemists searching for an
elixir of immortality had serendipitously stumbled upon gunpowder.
[19][20]
The Chinese "
Wu Ching Tsung Yao", written by Tseng Kung-Liang in 1044, provides encyclopedia references to a variety of mixtures which included petrochemicals, as well as garlic and honey. A slow match for flame throwing mechanisms using the siphon principle and for fireworks and rockets are mentioned. Academics argue the Chinese wasted little time in applying gunpowder to warfare, and they produced a variety of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, and mines, before inventing guns as a projectile weapon.
[21]