Presentation I was giving to sophomores

1. Gunpowder in China
Toby Agüero

2. Physical Aspects
 First let us go over, in detail what gunpowder is.
 Gunpowder is a chemical explosive.
 Gunpowder contains a mixture charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur
 Ingredients:
 56 % Solid Products:
 75 % saltpeter
 15 % charcoal
 10 % sulfur
 43 % Gaseous Products
 1 % water

3. Chemistry of Gunpowder
 Lets take a chemical approach
 Gaseous products contain Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen
sulfide, hydrogen, and methane
 Chemistry of gunpowder:
 This is a simplified equation - 2 KNO3 + S + 3 C → K2S + N2 + 3 CO2
 This is a balanced yet still simplified formula –
 10 KNO3 + 3 S + 8 C → 2 K2CO3 + 3 K2SO4 + 6 CO2 + 5 N2.
 This is the gunpowder’s empirical formula which includes water: C7H4O
 6 KNO3 + C7H4O + 2 S → K2CO3 + K2SO4 + K2S + 4 CO2 + 2 CO + 2 H2O + 3 N2
 Here is a not as necessary, but interesting formula of gunpowder without using sulfur:
 10 KNO3 + 2 C7H4O → 5 K2CO3 + 4 CO2 + 5 CO + 4 H2O + 5 N2

4. Physics
 Lets take a physics approach:
 Gunpowder releases 3 megajuoles of energy per kilogram, which is equivalent to 3000000 joules during
detonation
 Which is 30000 times more energy than a light bulb.
 When firing a cannon using gunpowder:
 We can determine the acceleration from gravity using:
 We can determine the acceleration of drag using:
 I would show an example but it depends on angle and other, aside from which it is also irrelevant to do a physics
demonstration to sophomores.

5. Acknowledgements
 It is quite impressive that the Chinese were able to create such a influential
invention that still affects society today
 This shows that they were able to use there expertise of science, knowledge
of chemistry and physics(or what they called it, “Alchemy”) to create a
solution that is applied to their military, celebrations, way of living, etc.

6. The Beginning
 Gunpowder is said to be invented in the 9th century, which was during the
Tang Dynasty.
 It is believed that during the Tang Dynasty gunpowder was used to put on great
firework displays.
 The earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder is the Wujing
Zongyao, in the 11th century, or during the Song Dynasty:
 Wujing Zongyao translates literally to “Collection of the Most Important Military
Techniques“.

7. Religion
 As early as 200 B.C.E., it is believed China began using fire crackers, to ward
off evil spirits.
 They would do this by roasting bamboo which explodes when heated due to
the hollow air pockets.
 It was until the 9th century, that Chinese alchemist created a formula for
gunpowder.

8. Displays
 Chinese people began inserting gunpowder into bamboo, which became the
first fireworks.
 Chinese people soon later replace bamboo with paper tubes
 The Chinese used their creativity, and realized that fireworks were not just
for warding off the evil.
 They began giving firework displays, and using them to celebrating special
events.

9. Military
 The “Wujing Zongyao” was the earliest formula for gunpowder, which literally
translates to “Collection of the Most Important military Techniques”. This
formula was written in the song Dynasty.
 Chinese people used gunpowder to protect themselves from Mongol invasions,
which were frequent.
 The Chinese were able to develop weapons. They developed a fire grenade,
and what they call fire birds.
 The Chinese were also able to make hand guns, and in the “Wujing Zongyao”
there is a depiction of a flame thrower.

10. Cannon
 The Chinese were able to develop a weapon they called “Flying-cloud
thunderclap eruptor”
 This cannon used a metal barrel, which were mounted on wooden frames, and
fired cast-iron shelled bombs, which consisted of gunpowder.
 This cannon is different from other cannons, since the shells are not uniform
with the width of the barrel.

11. Whip Arrows
 There were arrows with small packages of gunpowder wrapped in bamboo or
paper attached to them.
 This was used to set enemies on fire when shot.

12. Grenade
 The “Thunderbolt-ball” was filled with gunpowder and iron scraps, which is
attached to a bamboo core.
 This weapon served as a grenade for the Chinese.
 We still use a weapon similar to this today.

13. Flame Thrower
 The “Fire-spurting lances”, which consisted of bamboo as a barrel to hold the
gunpowder.
 This served as a flame thrower.
 It used a forced-pump contraption, which shot flames. A double-action piston-
bellow forced oil out with forward and backward strokes to maintain a
continuous stream of flames

14. Smoke Grenades
 The “bamboo fire hawk” was a weapon with gunpowder and small stones in
bamboo.
 It is wrapped in hay in order to release smoke.
 This weapon served as a smokes grenade.

15. Guns
 The first hand-held gun occurred during the Yuan Dynasty.
 They consisted of metal barrels that propelled gunpowder bombs.
 This weapon was intended to burn targets.

16. Where I found all this brain food
 https://www.history.com/news/fireworks-vibrant-history
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder
 http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/07/02/the-chemistry-of-gunpowder/
 http://www.orbitals.com/powder/comparison/ballistics-computation
 https://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/miltech/firearms.htm