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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).
The idea that gunpowder was a Chinese invention was not new to Europeans by then, and had been in circulation in Europe since at least the late 16th century. According to Juan de Mendoza, writing in 1585, the Chinese told the Portuguese that they had invented gunpowder, contradicting their own belief that "an Almane" had been the inventor.
China: Private trade of gunpowder ingredients is banned in the Song dynasty. [20] 1075: Sinosphere: Vietnam's Lý dynasty used fire arrows and against the Song dynasty during the Lý–Song War (1075–1077). [21] 1076: China: Trade of gunpowder ingredients with the Liao and Western Xia dynasties is outlawed by the Song court. [14] 1083: China
Hand cannon, Ming dynasty, 1379 The first firearms were invented in China, following the invention of gunpowder.The earliest known depiction of a gunpowder weapon is the illustration of a fire lance on a mid-10th century silk banner from Dunhuang. [2]
[17] Based on these Taoist texts, the invention of gunpowder by Chinese alchemists was likely an accidental byproduct from experiments seeking to create the elixir of life. [18] This experimental medicine origin is reflected in its Chinese name huoyao (Chinese: 火药/火藥; pinyin: huǒ yào /xuo yɑʊ/), which means "fire medicine". [19]
Gunpowder was invented in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. [19] By the time the Song dynasty treatise, Wujing Zongyao (武经总要), was written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide in 1044, the various Chinese formulas for gunpowder held levels of nitrate in the range of 27% to 50%. [20]
In Wikipedia's article about gunpowder, the first sentence of the third paragraph says " Gunpowder was, according to prevailing academic consensus, invented in the 8th century in China". But other sources say that Gunpowder was invented in the 9th century AD. It is also said that gunpowder was invented in the year 850 AD, which was in the 9th ...
The Chinese astronomer Geng Shouchang of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) invented it separately in China in 52 BC, and the Han dynasty polymath Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) was the first to apply motive power using a set of complex gears rotated by a waterwheel which was powered by the constant pressure head of an inflow clepsydra clock, the ...