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Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formulation and the smokeless propellant which replaced it are commonly described as gunpowder. The combustion products of smokeless powder are mainly gaseous, compared to around 55% solid products (mostly potassium carbonate , potassium sulfate , and potassium sulfide ) for black ...
Gunpowder is a low explosive: it does not detonate, but rather deflagrates (burns quickly). This is an advantage in a propellant device, where one does not desire a shock that would shatter the gun and potentially harm the operator; however, it is a drawback when an explosion is desired.
Gunpowder, an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate (also known as saltpeter), was the original propellant employed in firearms and fireworks.It was used from about the 10th or 11th century onward, but it had disadvantages, including the large amount of smoke it produced.
Although all firearm propellants are generally called powder, [1] the term gunpowder originally described mixtures of charcoal and sulfur with potassium nitrate as an oxidizing agent. [2]: 133, 137 By the 20th century these early propellants were largely replaced by smokeless powder of nitrocellulose or similarly nitrated organic compounds.
“I am afraid we will not survive, but I hope I die in dignity,” says Mahmoud Shalabi, an aid worker in Gaza
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
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The Arabs called it "Chinese snow" (Arabic: ثلج الصين, romanized: thalj al-ṣīn) as well as bārūd (بارود), a term of uncertain origin that later came to mean gunpowder. It was called "Chinese salt" by the Iranians/Persians [10] [11] [12] or "salt from Chinese salt marshes" (Persian: نمک شوره چينی namak shūra chīnī).