Gunpowder

Gunpowder is a propellant used in firearms, fireworks, and rockets. It is a mechanical mixture of charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate).

Gunpowder is a low explosive - it burns rapidly without outside air, and in a confined space, will build up enough pressure to cause an explosion. However, it does not detonate in the manner of a high explosive.

History

Gunpowder was first developed in China, no later than the eleventh century A.D., and possibly earlier. (Early texts are not clear if the mixture described is true gunpowder or not.) It was introduced into Europe in the thirteenth century, through unknown routes. The earliest known description of a true gunpowder formula is in a letter from Francis Bacon to Pope Clement IV in 1267 A.D. By 1275, Albertus Magnus described a formula of four parts saltpeter to one part charcoal and one part sulfur; the chemically ideal proportions are closer to 75% saltpeter, 11.5% sulfur, and 13.5% charcoal.

The earliest European was a finely ground mixture of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. This mixture, known as "serpentine powder," tended to absorb moisture, to separate into its components while being transported, and did not burn if packed too tightly into a gun. It gave way in the 15th century to corned powder which was pressed into pellets and screened to a uniform size.

Civilian uses

In terms of civilian uses, the technique of gunpowder blasting for mining was first demonstrated by Caspar Weindel at Schemnitz, Lower Hungary in 1627.The practice spread into Harz and Austria in the 1630's, Saxony and Northern Italy in the 1640s and by the 1650s into the Rhineland and Westphalia. It was introduced and developed in Holland and England after the 1660s. It was replaced by dynamite, invented in the late 1860s by Alfred Nobel.

Military Uses

Gunpowder was used as a propellant for rockets, and to propel shot in cannons and Naval guns. During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Chinese gunpowder technology spread to the whole of Southeast Asia via both the overland and maritime routes, long before the arrival of European firearms. The impact of Chinese firearms on northern mainland Southeast Asia in terms of warfare and territorial expansion was profound.

Land warfare

Sieges were the primary form of warfare in the Middle Ages in Europe. During the period 1346-1500 cannon complemented catpults in siege warfare; only after 1480 did technical improvements in gunpowder and metallurgy render catapults obsolete. Cannons shooting lead, iron or stone projectiles could knock down a castle's high walls, hence the castle had to be aqbandoned. New fortifications were invented, such as the star shape, such that each wall sloped away from the attacker, reducing the impact of the cannon. One of the main innovators was Italian architect Francesco Di Giorgio, who woked in southern Italy.

Naval warfare

Few technological developments in the history of warfare have been as portentous as the appearance around the turn of the 16th century of effective heavy gunpowder ordnance on shipboard, which began a new era in sea warfare. Employed on Mediterranean war galleys and Portuguese caravels, the weapons marked the solution of a series of daunting technological problems, beginning with the appearance of gunpowder in Europe about 1300. Unlike developments on land, change was at first gradual, but shortly after 1400 the pace of development sharply accelerated to culminate in what may legitimately be termed a revolution in firepower at sea.

Smokeless powder

Black powder has gradually been superseded in common use by other propellants which provide higher energy density, lack of smoke, or other desirable properties. In the mid-19th century chemists realized that black-powder smoke wasted fuel, reducing muzzle velocity, while a smokeless powder converted all its fuel, allowing for increased velocity of projectiles. Increased velocity was necessary for rapid-fire shells and in battle against ironclad vessels. In 1884, Frenchman Paul Vieille invented smokeless gunpowder.

Bibliography

• Buchanan, Brenda J. ed. Gunpowder: The History of an International Technology, (1996) 430pp excerpt and text search
• Cocroft, Wayne. Dangerous Energy: The Archaeology of Gunpowder and Military Explosives (2000) 222 pages
• Cook Jr., Weston F. The Hundred Years War for Morocco: Gunpowder and the Military Revolution in the Early Modern Muslim World, (1994) online edition
• DeVries, Kelly. Guns and Men in Medieval Europe, 1200-1500 (2002)
• Guilmartin, John F., Jr. "The Earliest Shipboard Gunpowder Ordnanace: an Analysis of its Technical Parameters and Tactical Capabilities." Journal of Military History 2007 71(3): 649-669. Issn: 0899-3718 Fulltext: Ebsco, focus on 14-16th century naval uses
• Hall, Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics (1997) 300pp
• Kelly, Jack. Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. (2004). 288 pp. excerpt and text search
• McNeil, William. "The Gunpowder Revolution." MHQ: the Quarterly Journal of Military History 1990 3(1): 8-17. Issn: 1040-5992
• McNeil, William. The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Forces and Society since 1000 AD (1982), has a great deal on gunpowder's role
• Mauskopf, Seymour H. "Gunpowder and the Chemical Revolution." Osiris 1988 4: 93-118. Issn: 0369-7827 Fulltext: in Jstor
• Mauskopf, Seymour H. "Chemistry and Cannon: J.-L. Proust and Gunpowder Analysis," Technology and Culture, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul., 1990), pp. 398-426 in JSTOR
• Needham, Joseph and Ho, Ping-yü. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Part 7: Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic. (1986). 703 pp.
• Norris, John. Early Gunpowder Artillery: C.1300-1600 (2003) 144 pages

Primary sources

• Anderson, William. Sketch of the mode of manufacturing gunpowder at the Ishapore mills (1862) full text online