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Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formulation and the smokeless propellant which replaced it are commonly described as gunpowder.
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur , charcoal (which is mostly carbon ), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter) .
A black powder substitute is a replacement for black powder (gunpowder), primarily used in muzzleloading firearms. Substitutes may have slightly different properties from gunpowder such as: reduced sensitivity as an explosive, increased efficiency as a propellant powder, different density, and/or reduced ignition efficiency.
The ingredients of gunpowder are recorded in the Baopuzi, also known as The Master Who Embraces Simplicity, by Taoist philosopher Ge Hong, who lived in the Jin dynasty (266–420). It describes experiments to create gold with heated saltpeter, pine resin, and charcoal among other carbon materials, resulting in a purple powder and arsenic vapours.
Modern firearm propellants tend to be smokeless powders based on nitrocellulose or similarly nitrated organic compounds, first invented in the late 19th century as a cleaner and better-performing replacement for black powder. Modern smokeless powder may be corned into small spherical balls, or extruded into cylinders or strips with many cross ...
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance.
Today, velocity of detonation can be measured with accuracy. Together with density it is an important element influencing the yield of the energy transmitted for both atmospheric over-pressure and ground acceleration. By definition, a "low explosive", such as black powder, or smokeless gunpowder has a burn rate of 171–631 m/s. [14]
In early black powder guns such as muzzleloaders, the primer was essentially the same chemical as the main propellant (albeit usually in a finer-powdered form), but poured into an external flash pan, where it could be ignited by an ignition source such as a slow match or a flintlock, though some muzzleloaders have primers like cap gun caps ...