How is gunpowder made (China)?

Question

How was it made in China Medieval times? How is gunpowder produced now?

Answer 1

History and origins

Gunpowder was invented in China and is considered one of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China.

Gunpowder was the first known chemical explosive and propellant.[1] An early record of gunpowder comes from a Chinese Han era book "The Kinship of the Three" compiled in A.D. 142 by Wei Boyang, where he recorded experiments in which a third set of ingredients were said to "fly and dance" in a violent reaction. We cannot be sure if the mix was an early combination of gunpowder but up until more recent centuries, no other combination of naturally occurring materials had produced reactions of such a violent nature. We do however, know that by A.D. 300, Ge Hong, an alchemist of the Jin dynasty conclusively recorded the chemical reactions caused when saltpetre, pine resin and certain carbonaceous materials were heated together in his book "Book of the Master of the Preservations of Solidarity". [2] Another early record of gunpowder, a Chinese book from c. 850 A.D. called "Classified Essentials of the Mysterious Tao of the True Origin of Things," indicates that gunpowder was a byproduct of Taoist alchemical efforts to develop an elixir of immortality:[3]

Some have heated together sulfur, realgar and saltpeter with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down.[4]

The Chinese first used gunpowder in warfare in 904 A.D., as incendiary projectiles called "flying fires." (These were invented during the Tang Dynasty and were originally used for fireworks.) The use of gunpowder was soon expanded to making explosive grenades hurled from catapults. The third step was to use gunpowder as a propellant. The first such use was recorded in 1132 in experiments with mortars consisting of bamboo tubes. Mortars with metal tubes (made of iron or bronze) first appeared in the wars (1268-1279) between the Mongols and the Song Dynasty.[5]

Gunpowder spread to the Arabs in the 13th century.[6]

There is no direct record of how gunpowder came to be known in Europe. Most scholars believe that the knowledge spread west from China to the Middle East and then Europe, possibly via the Silk Road.[7][8][9] Other historians believe that gunpowder was probably discovered independently by different cultures at different times, as James Partington writes in his History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder:

Gunpowder is not, of course, an 'invention' in the modern sense, the product of a single time and place; no individual's name can be attached to it, nor can that of any single nation or region. Fire is one of the primordial forces of nature, and incendiary weapons have had a place in armies' toolkits for almost as long as civilized states have made war.

In Europe, the first written mention of the composition of gunpowder in express terms was in Roger Bacon's "De nullitate magiæ" at Oxford in 1216. [10] In Bacon's "De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae" in 1248, he states:

We can, with saltpeter and other substances, compose artificially a fire that can be launched over long distances... By only using a very small quantity of this material much light can be created accompanied by a horrible fracas. It is possible with it to destroy a town or an army ... In order to produce this artificial lightning and thunder it is necessary to take saltpeter, sulfur, and Luru Vopo Vir Can Utriet.

The last part is probably some sort of coded anagram for the quantities needed. In the "Opus Maior" he describes firecrackers around 1267: "a child’s toy of sound and fire made in various parts of the world with powder of saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal of hazelwood."[11] The confusion of these two references have led to many widespread misunderstandings about Bacon and Gunpowder.

The process of "corning" black powder was a further important improvement, and was developed in Europe probably during the late 14th century.[12] Corning involves forcing damp powder through a sieve to form it into granules which harden when dry, preventing the component ingredients of gunpowder from separating over time, thus making it far more reliable and consistent. It also allowed for better ignition, as the granules allowed for air pockets in between granules

Answer 2

Then: Gunpowder was invented by Chinese alchemists seeking an elixir of immortality. They began to recognize the characteristics of salpeter and sulfur, two ingredients essential for gunpowder. Between 300- 650 AD several recipes were written about inflammable mixtures. Some historians date the invention of gunpowder at 850 AD when a Taoist book warned of three specific elixir formulas as too dangerous to experiment.
Around 1040 AD Tseng Kung-Liang published a true gunpowder formula for the first time in history. However, this powder was not explosive but rather burned with a sudden combustion and was used in flame-throwers. Explosive gunpowder was definitely used in the beginning of the thirteenth century. http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/connections_n2/gunpowder.html




Now: Gunpowder is made from sulfur, potassium nitrate, and carbon (usually in the form of fine charcoal). Fireworks of various colors can be made from mixing gunpowder with other elements that burn in various colors, such as strontium (burns red), bromium (burns green), and magnesium. Gunpowder was mainly used in the rocket, which was used either for launching fireworks into the air, or as a means of delivering an explosive shell at an enemy. http://www.wavespring.com/justin/china/gunpowder.html

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Answer 3

Gunpowder is made from a mix of these three ingredients -

Potassium Nitrate
Charcoal (powdered, not chunks)
Sulphur

Sorry that I cannot answer the other parts of your question.

Answer 4

Sulfur and iron and saltpeter!!! THe new explosives have lots of chemicals that excelerate the intensity of the explosion. Now they're ingredience are disclosed and illegal to share them on a mass media curcut, like the internet! Just keep it to saltpeter and iron and sulfur and you'll be fine.

Answer 5

I've heard ash with urine.