The origins of Gunpowder (Black Powder)

[Donald]

[hanson] Thanks, guys. Now, what interests me are the developments that *preceded* the invocations of the KNO3/C/S mixes but which led up to it. To mind comes the concept that James Burke used in his PBS/BBC TV production 'Connections'.

We discussed a while back in sci.chem a similar topic with KNO3's origin being the issue, via Ca(NO3)2 + 2 K2CO3

Please remove sci.bio.paleontology from this very OT thread.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

pardon my uneducated guess.... but it seems to me that if archaeology is a goofed up as it is, that alchemy may be a younger science than we think...and second of all...since when did the Chinese invent something that worked?

I read somewhere that a couple of old moonshiners were making slop out of a mixture of grains and corns, when an Indian came by and told them that sulfur from the Yellowstone region would help the stink. They inadvertently dug some of the coals from the fire and mixed it in the pile of slop, the combination was quite volitile and led to a sever case of the runs. They decided to take up alchemy and invented gunpowder.....up until then, the stuff they used in guns was a combination of highly distilled alcohol in a ground corn husk mash that was put down the barrel wet and ignited using a squirt of raw spirits......