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A 1682 demonstration of Huygens gunpowder engine, where a dram of gunpowder creates enough vacuum to lift 8 boys into the air. Huygens, however, became interested in the mechanical power of the vacuum, and the possibility of using gunpowder to produce one. In 1678 he outlined a gunpowder engine consisting of a vertical tube containing a piston ...
For instance, power grades of black powder, unsuitable for use in firearms but adequate for blasting rock in quarrying operations, are called blasting powder rather than gunpowder with standard proportions of 70% nitrate, 14% charcoal, and 16% sulfur; blasting powder may be made with the cheaper sodium nitrate substituted for potassium nitrate ...
During World War I, acetone was in short supply in Great Britain, and a new experimental form was developed for use by the Royal Navy. [18] This was Cordite RDB (= Research Department formula B); which was 52% collodion, 42% nitroglycerin and 6% petroleum jelly. It was produced at HM Factory, Gretna; [18] and the Royal Navy Cordite Factory ...
[1] [2] In the United States, many states mandate the use of black powder or "equivalent" black powder substitutes during the portion of deer hunting season in which only muzzleloading firearms can be used, and many outright prohibit the use of smokeless powders during this time. [3]
[52] [53] Human cannonball circus acts use a catapult launch mechanism, rather than gunpowder, and are risky ventures for the human cannonballs. [ 54 ] Early launched roller coasters used a catapult system powered by a diesel engine or a dropped weight to acquire their momentum, [ 55 ] such as Shuttle Loop installations between 1977 and 1978.
More-stable and slower-burning collodion mixtures were eventually prepared using less concentrated acids at lower temperatures for smokeless powder in firearms. The first practical smokeless powder made from nitrocellulose, for firearms and artillery ammunition, was invented by French chemist Paul Vieille in 1884.
A saltpetre works or nitrary [1] is a place of production of potassium nitrate or saltpetre used primarily for the manufacture of gunpowder. The saltpeter occurs naturally in certain places like the "Caves of Salnitre" ( Collbató ) known since the Neolithic.
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion.The ton of TNT is a unit of energy defined by convention to be 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie), [1] which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of TNT.