Gun"pow`der (?), n. (Chem.) A black, granular, explosive substance, consisting of an intimate mechanical mixture of niter, charcoal, and sulphur. It is used in gunnery and blasting. Gunpowder consists of from 70 to 80 per cent of niter, with 10 to 15 per cent of each of the other ingredients. Its explosive energy is due to the fact that it contains the necessary amount of oxygen for its own combustion, and liberates gases (chiefly nitrogen and carbon dioxide), which occupy a thousand or fifteen hundred times more space than the powder which generated them. Webster's, gunpowder
Keely
"To move suddenly a square inch of air at the velocity of his vibratory circuit, on full line of graduation and at a vibration only of 2,750,000 per second, would require a force at least of twenty-five times that of gunpowder, and at 21,000 lbs. per sq. inch it would be 525,000 lbs. per square inch. The finer the substance the greater the power and velocity under such vibrations." [Snell Manuscript - The Book, page 2]
See Also
Disintegration
Disintegrator
Dispersion
Dissociation
Liberator
Molecular dissociation
nitre
nitrogen
Orders of Vibration
Original Etheric Vapor Liberator
potassium nitrate
15.14 - Dissociation Liberates Spontaneous Energy