Look up gunpowder in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Gunpowder most commonly refers to:
Contents
- Black powder, a propellant used in early firearms
- Smokeless powder, a propellant used in modern firearms
Gunpowder may also refer to:
Gunpowder most commonly refers to:
Gunpowder may also refer to:
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries.
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building pipelines, tunnels, and roads.
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance. These produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the gun.
A cartridge, also known as a round, is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile, a propellant substance and an ignition device (primer) within a metallic, paper, or plastic case that is precisely made to fit within the barrel chamber of a breechloading gun, for convenient transportation and handling during shooting. Although in popular usage the term "bullet" is often used to refer to a complete cartridge, the correct usage only refers to the projectile.
A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun. This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading firearms, in which user loads the ammunition into the breech end of the barrel. The term "muzzleloader" applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may also refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber.
Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel. Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately 120 m/s (390 ft/s) to 370 m/s (1,200 ft/s) in black powder muskets, to more than 1,200 m/s (3,900 ft/s) in modern rifles with high-velocity cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to 1,700 m/s (5,600 ft/s) for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition. To simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, NASA launches projectiles through light-gas guns at speeds up to 8,500 m/s (28,000 ft/s). FPS and MPH are the most common American measurements for bullets. Several factors, including the type of firearm, the cartridge, and the barrel length, determine the bullet's muzzle velocity.
Internal ballistics, a subfield of ballistics, is the study of the propulsion of a projectile.
A blank is a firearm cartridge that, when fired, does not shoot a projectile like a bullet or pellet, but generates a muzzle flash and an explosive sound like a normal gunshot would. Firearms may need to be modified to allow a blank to cycle the action, and the shooter experiences less recoil with a blank than with a live round. Blanks are often used in prop guns for shooting simulations that have no need for ballistic results, but still demand light and sound effects, such as in historical reenactments, special effects for theatre, movie and television productions, combat training, for signaling, and cowboy mounted shooting. Specialised blank cartridges are also used for their propellant force in fields as varied as construction, shooting sports, and fishing and general recreation.
Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formulation and the smokeless propellant which replaced it are commonly described as gunpowder. The combustion products of smokeless powder are mainly gaseous, compared to around 55% solid products for black powder. In addition, smokeless powder does not leave the thick, heavy fouling of hygroscopic material associated with black powder that causes rusting of the barrel.
A powder is a collection of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted.
Hang fire is an unexpected delay between the triggering of a firearm and the ignition of the propellant. This failure was common in firearm actions that relied on open primer pans, due to the poor or inconsistent quality of the powder, although modern firearms are also susceptible. The delay is usually too brief to be noticed, but can be several seconds. A hangfire should be suspected whenever a firearm fails to fire, but has not clearly malfunctioned.
Idli podi, chutney pudi, or milagai podi is a coarse spice powder, originating from the Indian subcontinent, with a mixture of ground dry spices that usually comprises "dried chilis, black gram dhal, chickpea, and sesame seeds". The spice mix is commonly referred to in informal speech as "gunpowder" due to its flavorful heat or chutney powder. It is generally mixed with gingelly (sesame) oil or melted ghee when it is served alongside idli or dosa.
Gunpowder tea is a form of tea in which each leaf has been individually rolled into a small pellet. Its English name comes either from some resemblance of the pellets to gunpowder, or from a phrase in Chinese that phonetically resembles the word "gunpowder". This rolling method of shaping tea is most often applied either to green tea or to oolong tea.
Muzzle flash is the light — both visible and infrared — created by a muzzle blast, which is caused by the sudden release and expansion of high-temperature, high-pressure gases from the muzzle of a firearm during shooting. Both the blast and flash are products of the exothermic combustion of the propellant (gunpowder), and any remaining unburned powders reacting with ambient air. The size and shape of the muzzle flash is dependent on the combustion energy of propellant being used, the amount of combustible ejecta remaining, and any devices attached to the muzzle.
A black powder substitute is a replacement for black powder (gunpowder), primarily used in muzzleloading firearms. Substitutes may have slightly different properties from gunpowder such as: reduced sensitivity as an explosive, increased efficiency as a propellant powder, different density, and/or reduced ignition efficiency. This also means that substitutes are subject to different restrictions than gunpowder.
The history of the firearm begins in 10th-century China, when tubes containing gunpowder projectiles were mounted on spears to make portable fire lances. Over the following centuries, the design evolved into various types, including portable firearms such as flintlocks and blunderbusses, and fixed cannons, and by the 15th century the technology had spread through all of Eurasia. Firearms were instrumental in the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of European colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. The 19th and 20th centuries saw an acceleration in this evolution, with the introduction of the magazine, belt-fed weapons, metal cartridges, rifled barrels, and automatic firearms, including machine guns.
The following are terms related to firearms and ammunition topics.
A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid, or gas. Solid projectiles may be free-flying or tethered. A large-caliber gun is also called a cannon.
Black powder cartridge refers to firearms ammunition from the period after the introduction of metallic cartridge, but prior to the wide adoption of smokeless powder. These cartridges had adopted the new technology of complete cartridges including a brass casing which held the powder charge, bullet, and primer. However, unlike almost all later firearms, these firearms used black powder as a propellant charge. Black powder lubricant was required to be used in various firearms.
Firearm propellants are a specialized type of propellant used to discharge a projectile through the barrel of a firearm. Mixtures of different chemical substances are often used to control the rate of gas release, or prevent decomposition of the propellant prior to use. Short-barrel firearms such as handguns necessitate faster-burning propellants to obtain sufficient muzzle energy, while long guns typically use slower-burning propellants. The pressure relationships between propellant chemical reactions and bullet response are described as internal ballistics.