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Because of their fluffy and nearly white appearance, nitrocellulose products are often referred to as cottons, e.g. lacquer cotton, celluloid cotton, and gun cotton. [4] Guncotton was originally made from cotton (as the source of cellulose) but contemporary methods use highly processed cellulose from wood pulp. While guncotton is dangerous to ...
Nitroglycerine is also highly shock-sensitive, making it unfit to be carried in battlefield conditions. A major step forward was the invention of guncotton, a nitrocellulose-based material, by German chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1846.
Gelignite (/ ˈ dʒ ɛ l ɪ ɡ n aɪ t /), also known as blasting gelatin or simply "jelly", is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate).
In contrast, insoluble in alcohol, nitrocellulose was known as gun cotton and was used as an explosive. [13] [14] Nobel's patent refers to the production of Celluloid using camphor and soluble nitrocellulose; and this was taken to imply that Nobel was specifically distinguishing between the use of soluble and insoluble nitrocellulose. [14]
The earliest "Poudre B" tended to eventually become unstable, which has been attributed to evaporation of the volatile solvents, but may also have been due to the difficulty in fully removing the acids used to make guncotton. In the early years of their use both the original Poudre B and guncotton led to accidents.
The explosion in Suffolk killed dozens of people and destroyed half a town.
The Stowmarket Guncotton Company was an explosives company established in the 19th century by Messrs Prentice that operated a gun-cotton factory in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England. [2] The factory was the scene of an explosion in 1871 that claimed the lives of 28 people.
In the mid-19th century Guncotton began to be produced as a replacement for gun powder as propellant in firearms and for use as a low-order explosive in mining. [4] Even before the explosion at Stowmarket some of the earlier factories that had produced it discontinued production soon after due to the volatility of the substance during manufacture.