Gunpowder was invented in China in the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty and was originally used for fireworks and celebrations. It contains saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur and releases a large amount of energy during detonation. The Chinese developed many early gunpowder weapons and used them for both military defense against invaders and for creating fireworks displays. Some of the earliest weapons included hand cannons, flame throwers, grenades, and smoke bombs. The Chinese were the first to develop and apply gunpowder technology.

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