A thousand years ago the knowledge of how to make gunpowder was a closely guarded secret. The secret though would finally leak out of China, through the Middle East and into Europe, and as it spread westwards it would revolutionise warfare. Eventually though there was no secret to how to make gunpowder and instead there were controls placed on the raw materials needed to make it; the raw materials normally being sulphur, charcoal and potassium nitrate (saltpetre).
Sulphur increases the rate of combustion, the charcoal acts as the fuel (and is sometimes replaced by sugar), and the potassium nitrate (or alternative nitrate) provides the oxygen need to allow the reaction to occur.
Today though there is little difficulty in getting the raw materials and given a little time and effort gunpowder can be easily made. This is though not to say that everyone should make it, and only a relatively small proportion of the population will even need to consider doing so.
Gunpowder, whilst being a good propellant, has never made for an efficient explosive, and there are certainly many other easy to make explosives that are more efficient. The propellant nature of the gunpowder though, caused by the creation of an expanding gas, has proved useful for firearms, and also for fireworks. Thus it is today that gunpowder is primarily used for fireworks and also rocket boosters for models.
Most people make gunpowder making use of a mixture that contains 75% potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal and 10% sulphur; the percentages based on each item’s weight, with each item being weighed out using some accurate scales. A change in percentages alters the make up of the gunpowder and gives it different burning properties, and confident makers of gunpowder will experiment to create a powder most suitable for its purpose.
The basic materials then need to be combined, something which can be done in a ceramic pestle and mortar, although alternatively many people make use of a powered ball mill to do the job. The idea is to get the powder as fine as possible and to ensure that it is totally intermixed. A quicker burn is achieved when the gunpowder is finer, and a more efficient burn occurs with a well mixed powder. Therefore the longer it is ground or the longer it is left in the ball mill the better the results, although two to three hours in the ball mill is the standard amount of time.
In essence that is all that there is to making gunpowder, get the ingredients and thoroughly mix together in the correct quantities, but it is of course vital that it is recognised that making gunpowder is dangerous. Safety needs to be paramount, and safety precautions are needed at virtually every step of the process.
It is a good idea to wear appropriate safety equipment, including goggles, mask and gloves. It is also essential to keep metal objects as far away from the mixing process as possible, as sparks could set the mixture off. This means that when using the ball mill that ceramic grinding material is used rather than metal based materials.
Making gunpowder was once revolutionary, now it is something that virtually anyone can do, with easily available materials and an easy process to follow. This of course doesn’t mean that everyone should make gunpowder, it remains a dangerous substance and is one that should not be fooled around with.
