Smoke powder. Smoke powder - an invention that changed the era What saltpeter is part of gunpowder

Owners of shotguns often look for ways to save money or experiment with cartridges. One way to try something new and save a lot of money is to make classic black powder at home. What is it, and how it can be prepared in a handicraft way, will be discussed in this article.

Few things have made a real revolution in military affairs. Black, or black powder, is one such thing. Do you have a bunch of yesterday's peasants who never held bows in their hands? Give them a cheap firearm, make a brief training - and they are ready to hit the enemy at a distance that not every archer can handle. The enemy has an impregnable fortress, and there is no time for a long siege - it does not matter, a charge of black powder, laid at the base of the wall, will not leave a trace of the masonry. And if you can't get close - get a gun and get a similar effect. And what about a naval battle, when cannonballs pierce the ship's sides through and through?

In short, there are many applications. Fortress walls, heavy plate armor, close-knit linear orders - all this gradually became a thing of the past with the invention of gunpowder. It departed, taking millions of lives with it. Yes, now there are new, more modern explosives, but black powder is still effective and in demand. And this explosive story began quite simply.

History of black powder

China, late 8th century AD. The movement of alchemists is experiencing its heyday. An alchemist is a person who believed that by bringing together certain natural substances and subjecting them to certain transformations, one can obtain an elixir of immortality. And absolutely everyone wanted this, especially the Chinese emperors - the Sons of Heaven. So most alchemists have no need to complain about funding.

At the same time, in the process of this, in principle, meaningless work, the hardworking and assiduous Chinese received a number of substances that really had useful properties. In fact, alchemists were not only the prototype of chemists, but also the ancestors of pharmacists. But in the process of work, various unpleasant incidents often happened ...

History has not preserved for posterity the name of the person who first mixed sulfur, saltpeter and dried herbs in certain proportions, which turned out to be explosive. It is not even known whether the unlucky alchemist survived, because in those days there was not much safety equipment. But the recipe was somehow saved or even rediscovered.

And then it entered the system - in the Chinese chronicle Zhenyuan miaodao yaolue in plain text it was said "some mixed sulfur, saltpeter, honey and realgar (arsenic monosulfide) - as a result, smoke and flames arose, from which people and houses burned down." Doesn't look much like an immortality elixir, does it? Much more like something than being able to kill other people perfectly, if the formula is stabilized, of course. And somewhere in the middle of the 11th century, black powder found its practical use as a composition for combat missiles. At that time they were called "fiery spears" and were used mainly during the siege of fortresses. But the main way to use it is for a long time there were fireworks.

Black powder came to Europe much later - in the thirteenth century. There is even a legend about it. According to this version, gunpowder was invented by the German monk Berthold Schwartz, following a path very similar to that followed by the Chinese masters. But the authenticity of this legend is highly questionable. Why? Well, at least because the explosive properties of a mixture of coal, sulfur and saltpeter were already known to scientists. For example, the English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote about this.

Most likely, the history of the appearance of gunpowder in Europe is much more prosaic - it was brought by Arab merchants and travelers as a filling for fireworks. In those days, the Arabs were almost the only communication with the countries of the East - the Great Silk Road and the like. So it is not surprising that one of these comrades took with him a little "Chinese exploding powder", since there was practically no secret to making it. But the Europeans were not immediately able to appreciate the full potential of gunpowder. The effect was that for a long time they could not create sufficiently strong metal tubes that would withstand the energy of the explosion. But by the beginning of the 14th century, prototypes had already begun to appear. These were the first signs of global changes in the tactics of warfare.

Gunpowder making

If we talk about the components of classic black powder, which is often called "smoky", then everything is very simple:

• saltpeter
• charcoal

From about the 17th century to the present day, "classic" black powder with slight deviations has the following composition (by weight): 75 % saltpeter, 15 % charcoal, 10 % sulfur. Prior to this period, gunpowder underwent some changes:

Gunpowder making at first glance, simple - pre-dry everything, grind and mix in a ratio of 75/15/10. But there are some nuances. Lots of nuances, to be honest. So, what do you need to know beginner pyrotechnics.

Gunpowder components

Let's just say that the classical ratio is not ideal. Yes, such gunpowder is effective, but the most powerful explosion will occur at a ratio of 65/17/18, where sulfur is 17% and coal is 18%. Oh yes, for accurate dosage you need to use exclusively pharmacy scales- only they can give the desired accuracy. If you want the mixture, for example, to burn longer, you can experiment with the composition yourself. The main thing is to do it carefully and observe all possible precautions.

Charcoal

The best option is natural birch or lime charcoal. Also suitable is the one that is sold for barbecues. You can also use activated, but it will be much more expensive. As for carbon filters for water or for gas masks, they should not be used - they are not effective enough. Coal must be carefully crushed - large pieces are broken with a hammer into smaller ones, which are ground into dust with a coffee grinder. This may take five minutes. This will make the dust quite volatile, so protect your Airways respirator.

Sulfur

It will most likely have to be bought on the market, as a fertilizer or an additive in animal feed - this improves the quality of their wool. Sometimes small pieces can be found along the turns of the railway tracks, along which sulfur is transported in open wagons, but this should not be counted too much. Colloidal sulfur and sulfur from match heads are not suitable at all, since they contain a large amount of unnecessary impurities. If sulfur was sold in the form of small pieces, they also need to be ground in a coffee grinder.

Saltpeter

You can find this good again in the fertilizer store. But we need not some, but a strictly defined one - potassium. If there is none, sodium will also do, only the finished powder will turn out to be a little less high-quality, since it will quickly absorb moisture from the atmosphere and become damp. Ammonium nitrate is generally useless. In any case, the substance we need absorbs water, so before starting the experiments, the saltpeter must be thoroughly dried in the oven over low heat with the door open. This is necessary in order to fully control the process and prevent melting. After drying, the turn of the coffee grinder comes again.

So, we have three ready-made components. Now we weigh them and mix them in the right proportion. And in order to make the finished product homogeneous, again take the long-suffering coffee grinder. She'll have to work another fifteen minutes. At the output you will get a uniform fine powder - classic black powder.

Artyom Kostin. lastday.club

At first, black powder was used for entertainment purposes - making amusing fires and the likeness of rockets - and only later as a substance suitable for military purposes. So, by 1259, the Chinese describe one of the first types of weapons that used gunpowder - "Spears of Furious Fire". From the Arabs who lived in Spain, acquaintance with the production and use of gunpowder during the XIV century spread throughout Europe. In Europe, according to legend, the German monk Berthold Schwartz is considered the inventor of gunpowder, but, obviously, gunpowder was known before him. So, even the English philosopher and researcher Roger Bacon (c. - c.) wrote about the explosive nitrate-gray-coal composition known to him. For more than five centuries, black powder was the only propellant and explosive in the world, widely used both in artillery pieces and explosive projectiles, and in rockets.

Initially, gunpowder was a mechanical mixture of saltpeter, coal and sulfur in the form of a very fine powder. Its combustion was poorly predictable, in addition, fine powder was unsafe, as it often led to damage or rupture of gun barrels. Its power also left much to be desired. The issue of increasing the power of gunpowder was resolved, apparently by accident, while solving another problem - reducing the hygroscopicity of this substance. The pulverized gunpowder that existed in the XIV-XV centuries got wet very quickly due to the extreme hygroscopicity of saltpeter and the large area of ​​​​contact of powder particles with air. These problems were largely solved in the early 16th century when gunpowder was made into granules. Saltpeter-gray-coal powder, mixed with water, turned into a paste, which was then dried in the form of lumps and, as necessary, ground into grains. This not only increased the safety of the gunpowder, but also simplified the loading process. It also turned out that the granules explode almost twice as powerfully as pulverized gunpowder of the same mass. In addition, granular powder, unlike fine powder, did not require additional empty space in the breech breech for effective ignition - there were enough gaps between the granules for this. As a result, the power of the weapon was significantly increased. Later, the granulation technique was improved, the powder mass was pressed under high pressure, and after grinding, uneven pieces were polished, which made it possible to obtain solid shiny granules.

Composition and production

Black powder usually consists of three components: saltpeter, coal and sulfur. When burning gunpowder, saltpeter gives oxygen for burning coal; sulfur - cements the coal-nitrate mixture. In addition, having a lower ignition temperature than coal, sulfur accelerates the ignition process of gunpowder.

Usually, potassium nitrate (potassium nitrate) is taken for the manufacture of gunpowder, as it is less hygroscopic compared to other nitrates (for example, sodium nitrate). Saltpeter should be distinguished by a high degree of purity - 99.8%; the admixture of sodium nitrate, according to Soviet standards of the 1920s, was allowed no higher than 0.03%. Compounds of chlorine when calculating for sodium chloride were also allowed no more than 0.03%.

Charcoal for gunpowder is obtained by roasting (pyrolysis) non-resinous wood species (alder and especially buckthorn) to obtain a product consisting of 80-90% carbon; the use of resinous wood adversely affects the properties of gunpowder, and conifers not prone to coal formation. However, coniferous firewood is used to initiate the combustion process with subsequent backfilling of wood of other species in the historical method of charcoal production. It should be noted that until the 19th century, charcoal was burned in coal pits, which did not allow obtaining a product that was homogeneous in its properties (due to the presence of both unburned (not pyrolyzed) and burnt wood (that is, ash)). And only the introduction of pyrolysis in steel retorts with a water lock made it possible to obtain guaranteed high-quality coal, while beech, hornbeam, oak for heavy coals and birch mixed with aspen for lungs were considered the best types of wood for coal production. Depending on the availability of wood of a particular species in a given area and the development of coal production, national requirements and features of the production of black powder were formed, since it is the quality of wood and the degree of burning of coal that largely determine the quality of gunpowder. The lower the degree of burning of coal, the lower its burning rate, which is not always a negative factor. The content of pure carbon in coal must be at least 75-80%; it is known that with a decrease in the amount of coal in gunpowder, its burning rate increases, but with an increase in the percentage of carbon in coal, it decreases. In hunting grades of black powder, the content of saltpeter was sometimes slightly increased, for example, French and German hunting gunpowder contained 78% saltpeter, 10% sulfur and 12% coal. In the "mine" grades (for blasting), on the contrary, contained more sulfur and coal; for example, in Russia a mixture of 66.6% saltpeter, 16.7% sulfur and 16.7% coal was used. The gunpowder used in the primitive rockets of the 19th century gave higher momentum values ​​with higher saltpeter content. Conversely, with a decrease in the amount of nitrate in gunpowder, these indicators decreased. In general, with an increase in the amount of nitrate in gunpowder, the rate of its combustion also increases, but up to a certain limit - no higher than 80%.

As for sulfur, only crystalline sulfur with a melting point of 114.5 ° C is used for the manufacture of gunpowder. According to the mentioned standards, it should not contain calcium, magnesium compounds and water-insoluble substances - sand, metal, wood, etc.

In the second half of the 19th century and later, three main varieties of military black powder were distinguished: the black, brown and chocolate, depending on the degree of burning of the coal that was part of the gunpowder. Brown powder also had a sulfur content reduced to 5%; the ballistic performance of brown and chocolate powder was noticeably superior to that of ordinary black powder. Smoke powder is known, which did not contain sulfur at all - sulfur-free.

The manufacture of black powder is a purely mechanical process that does not include the implementation of chemical reactions. The technological process for the production of black powder was finally formed at the end of the 19th century. The stages basically became the following:

1. Grinding of components (nitrate, sulfur and coal) in metal barrels with spherical millstones;
2. Preparation of a ternary mixture by mixing the components;
3. Compaction of the mixture and its pressing in the form of a "cake" (since 1874 - by the method of "hot pressing", at a temperature of 100-105 ° C);
4. Grinding the resulting powder "cake" into grains of the required size;
5. Screening of dust, polishing of grains and their sorting;
6. Mixing and packaging of gunpowder.

This process remains fundamentally unchanged to the present, with the exception of the materials used in the instruments.

Properties

Appearance and physical properties

Modern black powder for small arms is a powder of granules (grain size of hunting powder - mostly no larger than 1.25 mm), the color of which ranges from blue-black to gray-black (hence the common name "black powder"). Quality gunpowder has hard, shiny grains, which are usually irregular, angular in shape, although the best hunting powders may have rounded grains. Smoke powder for small arms is graded by grain size, with finer grains being considered the best, providing faster charge combustion.

Processes during the combustion of black powder

When burned, black powder produces a thick and dense white-gray smoke. In the past, an experienced gunner could draw conclusions about the quality of gunpowder (the thicker the smoke, the better the gunpowder) and its throwing capabilities, including the essential characteristics of the gun - the approximate caliber and range.

A small amount of gunpowder, when ignited, gives a flash of bright flame with smoke, but the burning of a large amount of black powder turns into an explosion. On average, only 40% of its mass is converted into gaseous substances and participate in the ejection of the projectile. The remaining 60% remain solid particles, which form a thick cloud of smoke when fired and settle in the barrel of the weapon in the form of soot. During one of the experiments conducted by American specialists, 42 grains of solid residue were formed during the combustion of 82 grains of black powder. The gases formed during combustion are approximately 280 times the volume of the amount of burnt gunpowder. The flash point of black powder is about 300°C, which is higher than that of many high explosives. The chemical processes that occur during the combustion of black powder are very complex, so that the reaction of its decomposition in its entirety is almost impossible to represent with one formula. However, very approximately its combustion occurs in the following form:

$\backslash mathrm(2KNO\_3\; +\; 3C\; +\; S\; \backslash longrightarrow\; K\_2S\; +\; N\_2\; +\; 3CO\_2\backslash uparrow)$

Advantages and disadvantages

One of the most notable negative traits black powder is the release during combustion of a large amount of smoke, which unmasked the gun or arrow and made it very difficult to observe the target. Even in modern conditions, when using black powder for hunting, it is not always convenient - in case of a shot in calm and wet weather or in thickets, the smoke can completely hide the target. With regard to its sensitivity to impact and friction, black powder is one of the safest explosives to handle, but this property cannot be overestimated. During the experiments, a drop of a metal ball weighing 10 kg from a height of more than 45 cm onto gunpowder caused an explosion, although an explosion did not occur at lower heights and weights of the ball. A bullet hitting a mass of black powder at speeds above 500 m/s usually also causes an explosion. Smoke powder is one of the most fire-sensitive explosives. On the one hand, this increases the safety requirements when handling it, since it can flare up even from the slightest spark generated by the accidental impact of two metal objects. On the other hand, such a property makes it easier to ignite in ammunition.

Perhaps the most important advantage of black powder is its shelf life. Under proper conditions (complete isolation from humidity, storage at a constant low temperature), it can retain its properties for an almost unlimited time, unlike smokeless powders, the shelf life of which does not exceed several years.

Smoke powder is highly hygroscopic. It is able to absorb moisture from the air at a rate of 1% per day. When its humidity exceeds 3%, it becomes unusable, because it ignites with difficulty; at a humidity of about 15%, it completely loses its ability to ignite. Being soaked, black powder forever loses its properties. When dried, they are not restored, since saltpeter is leached from the soaked gunpowder. The presence of lumps of sticky grains in the mass of gunpowder is usually a sign that the gunpowder has been soaked. However, a small amount of moisture in the powder is normal and is usually 0.7-1%.

High ability, on the one hand, to wetting due to high hygroscopicity (with a decrease in throwing ability), and on the other hand, extreme flammability and a tendency in some cases to spontaneous combustion imposed significant restrictions on the storage and use of black powder, especially on ships. The best remedy savings of gunpowder was considered to be placing it in a parchment or linen bag inside an oak barrel, pitched on the outside, with storage of such barrels in a dry place.

Also among the disadvantages of black powder is the release of a large number of slowly burning fragments when fired, which can cause ignition of flammable materials, and not completely burned powder settles on parts of the weapon, including sights, and other equipment, which requires their cleaning. In addition, when loading a weapon, there is a risk of ignition of the charged gunpowder from contact with smoldering particles remaining in the barrel. That is why most articles and shooting instructions contained a ban on loading weapons directly from the powder flask - it was allowed to load only “from the cartridge” a pre-measured amount of gunpowder sufficient for a shot in the cap. However, in artillery, in conditions, in particular, of a sea battle, this problem was not completely solved, and during a series of volleys there was a risk of ignition of gunpowder caps when the gun was loaded, which repeatedly led to disasters.

The strong dependence of the combustion of black powder on the pressure of the surrounding air makes it difficult to use it in anti-aircraft ammunition that explodes at altitudes with pressures well below normal atmospheric pressure. During the experiments it turned out that at a pressure of about 450. partial attenuation of burning smoky powder begins in the remote tubes (gunpowder goes out in about 20-30% of the tubes), and at pressures below 350 mm all tubes die out. The burning rate of smoke powder, pressed into remote tubes, when burned in air is 8-10 mm / s. But at the same time, smoke powder is practically insensitive, unlike smokeless powder, to changes in air temperature.

Application

Smoke powder was historically the first explosive and remained the only explosive used both for throwing projectiles and as a blasting agent. This situation persisted until the invention of other explosives in the middle of the 19th century. With the advent of smokeless powders, black powder was quickly replaced by them as a propellant. In the 1890s, new models of small arms and artillery of the armies of the militarily advanced states began to be produced based on the use of only smokeless powder. AT Russian Empire smokeless powder was approved as standard for three-line rifles of the 1891 model of the year and guns for field, mountain, fortress, siege and coastal artillery by an artillery order of February 6, 1895.

However, black powder was not completely excluded from the military sphere. It has found application as a propellant in various types of jet weapons - for example, the expelling charge of the German Panzerfaust hand grenade launcher of the 1942 model consisted of rifle black powder. In the same way, black powder was used in the first Soviet RPG-1 grenade launchers (which did not go into mass production) and RPG-2, which was in service not only with the USSR, but also with other countries. A 5-gram charge of black powder is used, for example, in the Bulgarian anti-personnel jumping mine PSM-1 and serves to eject it from the ground.

Currently, in the civilian sphere, black powder is used in pyrotechnics, in the manufacture of igniter cords, and in some types of blasting for the extraction of expensive stone. It still has not lost its importance for amateur shooters and hunters, sometimes equipping cartridges with black powder.

Smoke powder in history and culture

In all, without exception, works written before the advent of smokeless powders, if we are talking about gunpowder, we mean black powder. When describing battles, dense clouds of smoke are often indicated that covered the battlefield. Some authors of the classics attached special importance to the description of gunpowder. So, Jules Verne in the novel "From the Earth to the Moon by a direct route in 97 hours 20 minutes" (1865) gave a prominent place to the discussion about gunpowder:

To charge his columbiad, - continued the major, - Rodman used large gunpowder with grains the size of a chestnut; the coal included in its composition was prepared from willow wood, which was burned in cast-iron boilers. This gunpowder is hard to the touch, shiny, leaves no trace on the hand, contains a significant amount of hydrogen and oxygen, ignites instantly and, despite its destructive power, almost does not clog the gun.

Black powder has a sharp, salty taste, leading to it being sometimes used in place of salt. This is noted in the novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".

However, it is known that the use of gunpowder in food often caused poisoning. There is an opinion that the prejudice of European peoples regarding eating horse meat is due to the fact that the soldiers of the Napoleonic army, when retreating from Moscow, sprinkled gunpowder instead of salt on the meat of fallen horses. This led to frequent cases of intoxication.

An interesting way to use gunpowder, recommended by the main character of N. V. Gogol's story "Taras Bulba". Taras advised, in case of a slight injury, in order to avoid a fever, “stir a charge of gunpowder in a glass of fusel oil” and drink it.

There are many cases in world history when the detonation of black powder (or its attempt) had an important impact on public life. The famous gunpowder plot of 1605 in London is well known, when the conspirators unsuccessfully tried to destroy the British Parliament together with King James Iby laying 80 kegs of black powder under the Palace of Westminster.

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Notes

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2. Hunter's Handbook. - M .: "Spike", 1964. - S. 75. - 399 p. - 250,000 copies.
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Links

An excerpt characterizing Black Powder

- Saw.
- Tomorrow, they say, the Preobrazhensky people will treat them.
- No, Lazarev is so lucky! 10 francs for life pension.
- That's the hat, guys! shouted the Preobrazhensky, putting on a Frenchman's shaggy hat.
- A miracle, how good, lovely!
Did you hear the feedback? said the Guards officer to another. The third day was Napoleon, France, bravoure; [Napoleon, France, courage;] yesterday Alexandre, Russie, grandeur; [Alexander, Russia, greatness;] one day our sovereign gives a review, and the other day Napoleon. Tomorrow the sovereign will send George to the bravest of the French guards. It's impossible! Should answer the same.
Boris and his comrade Zhilinsky also came to see the Preobrazhensky banquet. Returning back, Boris noticed Rostov, who was standing at the corner of the house.
- Rostov! hello; we didn’t see each other,” he told him, and could not help asking him what had happened to him: Rostov’s face was so strangely gloomy and upset.
“Nothing, nothing,” answered Rostov.
– Will you come?
- Yes, I will.
Rostov stood at the corner for a long time, looking at the feasters from afar. A painful work was going on in his mind, which he could not bring to the end. Terrible doubts arose in my heart. Then he remembered Denisov with his changed expression, with his humility, and the whole hospital with those torn off arms and legs, with this dirt and disease. It seemed to him so vividly that he now felt this hospital smell of a dead body that he looked around to understand where this smell could come from. Then he remembered this self-satisfied Bonaparte with his white pen, who was now the emperor, whom the emperor Alexander loves and respects. What are the severed arms, legs, murdered people for? Then he remembered the awarded Lazarev and Denisov, punished and unforgiven. He found himself thinking such strange thoughts that he was afraid of them.
The smell of Preobrazhensky food and hunger brought him out of this state: he had to eat something before leaving. He went to the hotel he had seen in the morning. In the hotel, he found so many people, officers, who, like him, arrived in civilian clothes, that he hardly managed to get dinner. Two officers from the same division as him joined him. The conversation naturally turned to the world. The officers, comrades of Rostov, like most of the army, were dissatisfied with the peace concluded after Friedland. They said that if they could hold on, Napoleon would have disappeared, that he had no crackers or charges in his troops. Nicholas ate in silence and mostly drank. He drank one or two bottles of wine. The inner work that arose in him, not being resolved, still tormented him. He was afraid to indulge in his thoughts and could not get behind them. Suddenly, at the words of one of the officers that it was insulting to look at the French, Rostov began to shout with fervor, which was not justified in any way, and therefore greatly surprised the officers.
“And how can you judge which would be better!” he shouted, his face suddenly flushed with blood. - How can you judge the actions of the sovereign, what right do we have to reason ?! We cannot understand either the purpose or the actions of the sovereign!
“Yes, I didn’t say a word about the sovereign,” the officer justified himself, who could not explain his temper to himself except by the fact that Rostov was drunk.
But Rostov did not listen.
“We are not diplomatic officials, but we are soldiers and nothing else,” he continued. - They tell us to die - so die. And if they are punished, it means that they are to blame; not for us to judge. It is pleasing to the sovereign emperor to recognize Bonaparte as emperor and conclude an alliance with him - then it must be so. Otherwise, if we began to judge and reason about everything, nothing sacred would remain that way. So we say that there is no God, there is nothing, - Nikolai shouted, striking the table, very inappropriately, according to the concepts of his interlocutors, but very consistently in the course of his thoughts.
“Our business is to do our duty, to fight and not to think, that’s all,” he concluded.
“And drink,” said one of the officers, who did not want to quarrel.
“Yes, and drink,” Nikolai picked up. - Hey, you! Another bottle! he shouted.

In 1808, Emperor Alexander went to Erfurt for a new meeting with Emperor Napoleon, and in the highest Petersburg society they talked a lot about the greatness of this solemn meeting.
In 1809, the proximity of the two rulers of the world, as Napoleon and Alexander were called, reached such a point that when Napoleon declared war on Austria that year, the Russian corps went abroad to assist their former enemy Bonaparte against their former ally, the Austrian emperor; to the point that in high society they talked about the possibility of a marriage between Napoleon and one of the sisters of Emperor Alexander. But, in addition to external political considerations, at that time the attention of Russian society with particular vivacity was drawn to the internal transformations that were being carried out at that time in all parts of the state administration.
Meanwhile, life, the real life of people with their essential interests of health, illness, work, recreation, with their own interests of thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions, went on, as always, independently and without political closeness or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte, and beyond all possible transformations.
Prince Andrei lived without a break for two years in the countryside. All those enterprises on estates that Pierre started at home and did not bring to any result, constantly moving from one thing to another, all these enterprises, without showing them to anyone and without noticeable labor, were carried out by Prince Andrei.
He had in the highest degree that practical tenacity that Pierre lacked, which, without scope and effort on his part, gave movement to the cause.
One of his estates of three hundred souls of peasants was listed as free cultivators (this was one of the first examples in Russia), in others corvée was replaced by dues. In Bogucharovo, a learned grandmother was issued to his account to help women in childbirth, and the priest taught the children of peasants and yards to read and write for a salary.
One half of the time Prince Andrei spent in the Bald Mountains with his father and son, who was still with the nannies; the other half of the time in the Bogucharovo monastery, as his father called his village. Despite the indifference he showed to Pierre to all the external events of the world, he diligently followed them, received many books, and to his surprise noticed when fresh people from Petersburg, from the very whirlpool of life, came to him or to his father, that these people, in knowledge of everything that happens in foreign and domestic policy, they are far behind him, who is sitting all the time in the countryside.
In addition to classes on estates, in addition to general studies in reading a wide variety of books, Prince Andrei was at that time engaged in a critical analysis of our last two unfortunate campaigns and drawing up a project to change our military regulations and decrees.
In the spring of 1809, Prince Andrei went to the Ryazan estates of his son, whom he was the guardian of.
Warmed by the spring sun, he sat in the carriage, looking at the first grass, the first leaves of the birch, and the first puffs of white spring clouds scattered across the bright blue of the sky. He did not think about anything, but looked cheerfully and senselessly around.
We passed the ferry on which he spoke with Pierre a year ago. We passed a dirty village, threshing floors, greenery, a descent, with the remaining snow near the bridge, an ascent along washed-out clay, a strip of stubble and a shrub that was greening in some places, and drove into a birch forest on both sides of the road. It was almost hot in the forest, the wind could not be heard. The birch tree, all covered with green sticky leaves, did not move, and from under last year's leaves, lifting them, the first grass and purple flowers crawled out green. Scattered in some places along the birch forest, small spruce trees with their coarse eternal greenery unpleasantly reminded of winter. The horses snorted as they rode into the woods and became more sweaty.
The footman Peter said something to the coachman, the coachman answered in the affirmative. But it was not enough for Peter to see the coachman's sympathy: he turned on the goats to the master.
- Your Excellency, how easy! he said, smiling respectfully.
- What!
“Easy, your highness.
"What he says?" thought Prince Andrew. “Yes, it’s true about spring,” he thought, looking around. And then everything is already green ... how soon! And birch, and bird cherry, and alder is already beginning ... And the oak is not noticeable. Yes, here it is, the oak.
There was an oak at the edge of the road. Probably ten times older than the birches that made up the forest, it was ten times thicker and twice as tall as each birch. It was a huge oak tree in two girths with broken branches, which can be seen for a long time, and with broken bark, overgrown with old sores. With his huge clumsy, asymmetrically spread, clumsy hands and fingers, he stood between the smiling birches, an old, angry and contemptuous freak. Only he alone did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun.
"Spring, and love, and happiness!" - this oak seemed to be saying, - “and how you don’t get tired of the same stupid and senseless deceit. Everything is the same, and everything is a lie! There is no spring, no sun, no happiness. There, look, crushed dead firs are sitting, always the same, and there I spread my broken, peeled fingers, wherever they grew - from the back, from the sides; as you have grown, so I stand, and I do not believe your hopes and deceptions.
Prince Andrei looked back at this oak tree several times as he drove through the forest, as if he was expecting something from him. There were flowers and grass under the oak, but he still, frowning, motionless, ugly and stubbornly, stood in the middle of them.
“Yes, he is right, this oak is a thousand times right,” thought Prince Andrei, let others, young ones, again succumb to this deception, and we know life, our life is over! A whole new series of thoughts, hopeless, but sadly pleasant in connection with this oak, arose in the soul of Prince Andrei. During this journey, it was as if he thought over his whole life again, and came to the same calming and hopeless conclusion that he had no need to start anything, that he should live his life without doing evil, without worrying and desiring nothing.

On guardian affairs of the Ryazan estate, Prince Andrei had to see the district marshal. The leader was Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov, and Prince Andrei went to him in mid-May.
It was already a hot spring. The forest was already all dressed up, there was dust and it was so hot that when driving past the water, I wanted to swim.
Prince Andrei, gloomy and preoccupied with thoughts about what and what he needs to ask the leader about business, drove up along the alley of the garden to the Rostovs' Otradnensky house. To the right, from behind the trees, he heard a female, cheerful cry, and saw a crowd of girls running towards the intersection of his carriage. Closer in front of the others, a dark-haired, very thin, strangely thin, black-eyed girl in a yellow cotton dress, tied with a white handkerchief, from under which strands of combed hair were knocked out, ran up to the carriage. The girl was shouting something, but recognizing the stranger, without looking at him, she ran back with a laugh.
Prince Andrei suddenly felt pain from something. The day was so good, the sun was so bright, everything around was so cheerful; but this thin and pretty girl did not know and did not want to know about his existence and was contented and happy with some kind of her own, stupid, but cheerful and happy life. “Why is she so happy? what is she thinking! Not about the military charter, not about the arrangement of the Ryazan dues. What is she thinking? And why is she happy? Prince Andrei involuntarily asked himself with curiosity.
Count Ilya Andreevich in 1809 lived in Otradnoye just as before, that is, taking over almost the entire province, with hunts, theaters, dinners and musicians. He, like any new guest, was glad to Prince Andrei, and almost forcibly left him to spend the night.
During the boring day, during which Prince Andrei was occupied by the senior hosts and the most honorable of the guests, with whom the house of the old count was full on the occasion of the approaching name day, Bolkonsky looked several times at Natasha, who was laughing and having fun between the other young half of society, kept asking himself: “What is she thinking? Why is she so happy!
In the evening, left alone in a new place, he could not sleep for a long time. He read, then put out the candle and lit it again. It was hot in the room with the shutters closed from the inside. He was annoyed with this stupid old man (as he called Rostov), ​​who had detained him, assuring him that the necessary papers in the city had not yet been delivered, he was annoyed with himself for having stayed.
Prince Andrei got up and went to the window to open it. As soon as he opened the shutters, the moonlight, as if he had been waiting for it at the window for a long time, burst into the room. He opened the window. The night was crisp and unmovingly bright. Right in front of the window was a row of trimmed trees, black on one side and silvery lit on the other. Under the trees there was some kind of juicy, wet, curly vegetation with silvery leaves and stems in some places. Further behind the black trees there was a kind of roof shining with dew, to the right a large curly tree, with a bright white trunk and branches, and above it an almost full moon in a bright, almost starless, spring sky. Prince Andrei leaned against the window and his eyes rested on this sky.
Prince Andrei's room was on the middle floor; they also lived in the rooms above it and did not sleep. He heard a woman speak from above.
“Just one more time,” said a female voice from above, which Prince Andrei now recognized.
- When are you going to sleep? answered another voice.
“I won’t, I can’t sleep, what should I do!” Well, the last time...
Two female voices sang some kind of musical phrase, which was the end of something.
- Oh, what a delight! Well, now sleep, and the end.
“Sleep, but I can’t,” answered the first voice, approaching the window. She apparently leaned completely out of the window, because the rustling of her dress and even breathing could be heard. Everything was quiet and petrified, like the moon and its light and shadows. Prince Andrei was also afraid to move, so as not to betray his involuntary presence.
– Sonya! Sonya! – the first voice was heard again. - Well, how can you sleep! Yes, look what a charm! Ah, what a delight! Wake up, Sonya, - she said almost with tears in her voice. “There has never been such a lovely night, never.
Sonya reluctantly answered something.
- No, look at that moon! ... Oh, what a charm! You come here. Darling, dove, come here. Well, see? So I would squat down, like this, I would grab myself under my knees - tighter, as tight as possible - you have to strain. Like this!
- All right, you're going to fall.
There was a struggle and Sonya's dissatisfied voice: "After all, the second hour."
Oh, you're just ruining everything for me. Well, go, go.
Everything fell silent again, but Prince Andrei knew that she was still sitting there, he sometimes heard a quiet stir, sometimes sighs.
- Oh my god! My God! what is it! she suddenly cried out. - Sleep like sleep! and slammed the window.
“And it doesn’t matter to my existence!” thought Prince Andrei while he listened to her conversation, for some reason waiting and fearing that she would say something about him. “And she again! And how on purpose! he thought. Such an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes, which contradicted his whole life, suddenly arose in his soul, that he, feeling unable to understand his state of mind, immediately fell asleep.

The next day, having said goodbye to only one count, without waiting for the ladies to leave, Prince Andrei went home.
It was already the beginning of June, when Prince Andrei, returning home, drove again into that birch grove in which this old, gnarled oak struck him so strangely and memorable. The bells rang even more muffled in the forest than a month and a half ago; everything was full, shady and dense; and young firs, scattered throughout the forest, did not violate the general beauty and, imitating general character, gently green with fluffy young shoots.
The whole day was hot, somewhere a thunderstorm was gathering, but only a small cloud splashed on the dust of the road and on the succulent leaves. The left side of the forest was dark, in shadow; the right one, wet and glossy, shone in the sun, slightly swaying in the wind. Everything was in bloom; the nightingales chirped and rolled now close, now far away.
“Yes, here, in this forest, there was this oak, with which we agreed,” thought Prince Andrei. “Yes, where is he,” thought Prince Andrei again, looking at the left side of the road and without knowing it, not recognizing him, admired the oak he was looking for. The old oak, all transformed, spread out like a tent of juicy, dark greenery, was thrilled, slightly swaying in the rays of the evening sun. No clumsy fingers, no sores, no old mistrust and grief - nothing was visible. Juicy, young leaves broke through the tough, hundred-year-old bark without knots, so that it was impossible to believe that this old man had produced them. “Yes, this is the same oak tree,” thought Prince Andrei, and a causeless, spring feeling of joy and renewal suddenly came over him. All the best moments of his life were suddenly remembered to him at the same time. And Austerlitz with a high sky, and the dead, reproachful face of his wife, and Pierre on the ferry, and the girl, excited by the beauty of the night, and this night, and the moon - and all this suddenly came to his mind.
“No, life is not over at the age of 31, suddenly, Prince Andrei decided completely, without change. Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary that everyone knows this: both Pierre and this girl who wanted to fly into the sky, it is necessary that everyone knows me, so that my life goes not for me alone so that they do not live so independently of my life, so that it is reflected on everyone and that they all live with me together!

Returning from his trip, Prince Andrei decided to go to Petersburg in the fall and came up with various reasons for this decision. A whole series of reasonable, logical arguments why he needed to go to Petersburg and even serve, was every minute ready for his services. Even now he did not understand how he could ever doubt the need to take an active part in life, just as a month ago he did not understand how the idea of ​​leaving the village could come to him. It seemed clear to him that all his experiences in life must have been lost in vain and be nonsense if he had not put them to work and had not again taken an active part in life. He did not even understand how, on the basis of the same poor rational arguments, it had previously been obvious that he would be humiliated if now, after his lessons in life, he would again believe in the possibility of being useful and in the possibility of happiness and love. Now my mind was telling me something else. After this trip, Prince Andrei began to get bored in the countryside, his previous activities did not interest him, and often, sitting alone in his office, he got up, went to the mirror and looked at his face for a long time. Then he turned away and looked at the portrait of the deceased Lisa, who, with curls a la grecque [in Greek] fluffed up, tenderly and cheerfully looked at him from a golden frame. She no longer spoke the former terrible words to her husband, she simply and cheerfully looked at him with curiosity. And Prince Andrei, with his hands folded back, paced the room for a long time, now frowning, now smiling, rethinking those unreasonable, inexpressible in words, secret as a crime thoughts connected with Pierre, with fame, with the girl at the window, with the oak, with female beauty and love that changed his whole life. And at those moments when someone came to him, he was especially dry, sternly resolute, and especially unpleasantly logical.
- Mon cher, [My dear,] - Princess Mary used to say entering at such a moment, - Nikolushka cannot go for a walk today: it is very cold.
- If it were warm, - at such moments, Prince Andrei answered his sister especially dryly, - then he would go in one shirt, and since it is cold, you need to put on warm clothes, which are invented for this. That’s what follows from the fact that it’s cold, and not just to stay at home when the child needs air, ”he said with special logic, as if punishing someone for all this secret, illogical inner work that took place in him. Princess Marya thought in these cases about how this mental work dries men.

Prince Andrei arrived in St. Petersburg in August 1809. It was the time of the apogee of the glory of the young Speransky and the energy of the coups he carried out. In this very August, the sovereign, riding in a carriage, was thrown out, injured his leg, and remained in Peterhof for three weeks, seeing Speransky daily and exclusively. At that time, not only two decrees, so famous and alarming to society, were being prepared on the destruction of court ranks and on exams for the ranks of collegiate assessors and state councilors, but also a whole state constitution, which was supposed to change the existing judicial, administrative and financial order of Russian government from the state council to the volost board. Now those vague, liberal dreams with which Emperor Alexander came to the throne, and which he sought to realize with the help of his assistants Czartoryzhsky, Novosiltsev, Kochubey and Strogonov, whom he himself jokingly called comite du salut publique, were now realized and embodied. [committee of public safety.]
Now Speransky for the civilian part and Arakcheev for the military have replaced everyone together. Prince Andrei, soon after his arrival, as a chamberlain, appeared at the court and went out. The sovereign twice, having met him, did not honor him with a single word. It always seemed to Prince Andrei even before that he was antipathetic to the sovereign, that his face and his whole being were unpleasant to the sovereign. In the dry, distant look with which the sovereign looked at him, Prince Andrei found confirmation of this assumption even more than before. The courtiers explained to Prince Andrei the inattention of the sovereign to him by the fact that His Majesty was dissatisfied with the fact that Bolkonsky had not served since 1805.
“I myself know how powerless we are in our likes and dislikes,” thought Prince Andrei, and therefore there is nothing to think about personally presenting my note on the military regulations to the sovereign, but the matter will speak for itself. He passed on his note to the old field marshal, a friend of his father. The field marshal, appointing him an hour, kindly received him and promised to report to the sovereign. A few days later it was announced to Prince Andrei that he had to appear before the Minister of War, Count Arakcheev.
At nine o'clock in the morning, on the appointed day, Prince Andrei appeared in the reception room of Count Arakcheev.
Personally, Prince Andrei did not know Arakcheev and had never seen him, but everything that he knew about him inspired little respect for this man.
"He is the minister of war, confidant sovereign emperor; no one should care about his personal properties; he was instructed to consider my note, therefore he alone can set it in motion, ”thought Prince Andrei, waiting among many important and unimportant persons in the waiting room of Count Arakcheev.
Prince Andrey, during his mostly adjutant service, saw a lot of receptions of important persons, and the various characters of these receptions were very clear to him. Count Arakcheev had a very special character in his reception room. On the unimportant faces waiting in line for an audience in the waiting room of Count Arakcheev, a feeling of shame and humility was written; on more official faces, one general feeling of awkwardness was expressed, hidden under the guise of swagger and ridicule at oneself, at one's position and at the expected person. Some walked thoughtfully back and forth, others laughed in whispers, and Prince Andrei heard the sobriquet [mocking nickname] of Sila Andreich and the words: “uncle will ask,” referring to Count Arakcheev. One general (an important person), apparently offended by the fact that he had to wait so long, sat shifting his legs and smiling contemptuously to himself.
But as soon as the door opened, only one thing was instantly expressed on all faces - fear. Prince Andrei asked the duty officer to report about himself another time, but they looked at him with mockery and said that his turn would come in due time. After several persons were brought in and taken out by the adjutant from the minister's office, an officer was let in through the terrible door, striking Prince Andrei with his humiliated and frightened appearance. The officer's audience went on for a long time. Suddenly, the peals of an unpleasant voice were heard from behind the door, and a pale officer, with trembling lips, went out from there, and clutching his head, went through the reception room.
Following that, Prince Andrei was led to the door, and the duty officer said in a whisper: "to the right, to the window."
Prince Andrei entered a poor, tidy study and at the table saw a forty-year-old man with a long waist, with a long, short-cropped head and thick wrinkles, with frowning eyebrows over a square, green dull eyes and a hanging red nose. Arakcheev turned his head towards him without looking at him.
– What are you asking for? Arakcheev asked.
“I’m not asking anything, your excellency,” Prince Andrei said quietly. Arakcheyev's eyes turned to him.
- Sit down, - said Arakcheev, - Prince Bolkonsky?
“I don’t ask for anything, but the sovereign emperor deigned to send the note I submitted to your excellency ...
“If you please, my dear, I read your note,” Arakcheev interrupted, only saying the first words affectionately, again without looking into his face and falling more and more into a grumblingly contemptuous tone. Do you propose new military laws? There are many laws, there is no one to fulfill the old ones. Nowadays, all laws are written, it is easier to write than to do.
- I came at the behest of the Sovereign Emperor to ask Your Excellency what course you intend to give to the submitted note? said Prince Andrew courteously.
- I put a resolution on your note and sent it to the committee. I do not approve, - said Arakcheev, getting up and taking paper from the desk. - Here! - he gave to Prince Andrei.
On paper, he crossed it, in pencil, without capital letters, without spelling, without punctuation marks, it was written: “It is unreasonably compiled as an imitation written off from the French military charter and from the military article without the need to retreat.”
- To which committee was the note sent? asked Prince Andrew.
- To the committee on military regulations, and I have presented your nobility as a member. Only without pay.
Prince Andrew smiled.
- I don't want to.
"Unpaid member," repeated Arakcheev. - I have the honor. Hey call! Who else? he shouted, bowing to Prince Andrei.

While waiting for notification of his enrollment as a member of the committee, Prince Andrei renewed his old acquaintances, especially with those persons who, he knew, were in power and might be needed by him. He now experienced in Petersburg a feeling similar to that which he experienced on the eve of the battle, when he was tormented by restless curiosity and irresistibly drawn to higher spheres, to where the future was being prepared, on which the fate of millions depended. He felt from the anger of the old people, from the curiosity of the uninitiated, from the restraint of the initiates, from the haste and concern of everyone, from the innumerable number of committees and commissions, the existence of which he learned again every day, that now, in 1809, preparations were being made here in Petersburg, some kind of huge civil battle, of which the commander-in-chief was an unknown to him, mysterious and seemed to him a brilliant person - Speransky. Both the most vaguely known matter of transformation, and Speransky, the main figure, began to interest him so passionately that the matter of the military regulations very soon began to pass in his mind to a secondary place.
Prince Andrei was in one of the most favorable positions in order to be well received in all the most diverse and highest circles of the then Petersburg society. The party of reformers cordially received and lured him, firstly because he had a reputation for intelligence and great erudition, and secondly because by setting the peasants free he had already made himself a reputation as a liberal. The party of old dissatisfied, just like the son of their father, turned to him for sympathy, condemning the transformation. The sorority, the world, welcomed him, because he was a rich and noble fiancé, and almost a new face with a halo of a romantic story about his imaginary death and the tragic death of his wife. In addition, the general voice about him of all who knew him before was that he had changed a lot for the better in these five years, softened and matured, that there was no former pretense, pride and mockery in him, and there was that calmness that purchased over the years. They started talking about him, they were interested in him and everyone wanted to see him.
The next day after visiting Count Arakcheev, Prince Andrei was at Count Kochubey's in the evening. He told the count his meeting with Sila Andreich (Kochubey called Arakcheev so with the same vague mockery that Prince Andrei noticed in the reception room of the Minister of War).
- Mon cher, [My dear,] even in this matter you will not bypass Mikhail Mikhailovich. C "est le grand faiseur. [Everything is done by him.] I'll tell him. He promised to come in the evening ...
- What does Speransky care about military regulations? asked Prince Andrew.
Kochubey, smiling, shook his head, as if surprised at the naivety of Bolkonsky.
“We talked about you the other day,” Kochubey continued, “about your free ploughmen…
- Yes, it was you, prince, who let your men go? - said Catherine's old man, contemptuously turning to Bolkonsky.
- The small estate did not bring income, - answered Bolkonsky, so as not to irritate the old man in vain, trying to soften his act before him.
- Vous craignez d "etre en retard, [Afraid to be late,] - said the old man, looking at Kochubey.
“I don’t understand one thing,” the old man continued, “who will plow the land, if they are given freedom? It is easy to write laws, but difficult to manage. It's all the same as it is now, I ask you, count, who will be the head of the chambers, when will everyone have their exams?
“Those who will pass the exams, I think,” answered Kochubey, crossing his legs and looking around.
- Here Pryanichnikov serves me, a nice man, a gold man, and he is 60 years old, will he go to exams? ...
“Yes, it’s difficult, since education is very little widespread, but ...” Count Kochubey did not finish, he got up and, taking Prince Andrei by the hand, went towards the incoming tall, bald, blond man, about forty, with a large open forehead and an extraordinary, strange whiteness of an oblong face. The newcomer was wearing a blue tailcoat, a cross around his neck and a star on the left side of his chest. It was Speransky. Prince Andrei immediately recognized him and something trembled in his soul, as happens at important moments in life. Whether it was respect, envy, expectation, he did not know. The whole figure of Speransky had a special type, by which one could now recognize him. In no one of the society in which Prince Andrei lived did he see this calmness and self-confidence of awkward and stupid movements, in no one did he see such a firm and at the same time soft look of half-closed and somewhat moist eyes, he did not see such a firmness of an insignificant smile , such a thin, even, quiet voice, and, most importantly, such a delicate whiteness of the face and especially the hands, somewhat wide, but unusually plump, tender and white. Prince Andrei saw such whiteness and tenderness of the face only among soldiers who had been in the hospital for a long time. It was Speransky, the state secretary, the speaker of the sovereign and his companion in Erfurt, where he met and spoke with Napoleon more than once.
Speransky did not shift his eyes from one face to another, as one involuntarily does when entering a large society, and was in no hurry to speak. He spoke quietly, with the assurance that they would listen to him, and looked only at the face with which he spoke.

The composition of smoke powders.

The composition of black powder, established at the end of the XVIII century. based on the works of M. V. Lomonosov, has not undergone significant changes to date.

The individual components in the composition of black powders have the following purpose.

Saltpeter is an oxidizing agent and easily releases oxygen when heated. The released oxygen oxidizes the sulfur and coal.

With an increase in the content of saltpeter in gunpowder to a certain limit (~ 80%), the strength of gunpowder increases and its burning rate increases. In nature, there are many substances rich in oxygen, but for the purposes of powder making, almost exclusively potassium nitrate is used, since it most satisfies all the requirements for oxidizing agents in the composition of gunpowder (low hygroscopicity and low sensitivity).

Coal is a combustible substance. For powder-making, charcoal is used (mainly alder or buckthorn) with a content of 72--8OUo carbon. It is undesirable to use coal from resinous tree species, since gunpowder prepared using such coal is difficult to ignite. With an increase in the amount of coal in gunpowder, the burning rate of gunpowder decreases, but with an increase in the carbon content in coal, it increases.

Sulfur, on the one hand, is a cementing agent that binds saltpeter with coal, and on the other hand, a combustible substance that facilitates the ignition of gunpowder, since sulfur ignites at a lower temperature than coal. From the increase in the sulfur content in the gunpowder, the strength of the gunpowder and the burning rate decrease. Sulfur occurs in crystalline and amorphous forms. In powder making, only crystalline sulfur is used with a melting point of 114.5.

Properties of smoke powders. The color of smoky vices ranges from blue-black to gray-black with a metallic sheen. Intense black color indicates the presence of a large amount of moisture in the gunpowder. Good gunpowder is relatively difficult to crush between the fingers, does not stain hands, and when poured onto paper, even from a height of 1 m leaves no dust at all.

When ignited, powder poured onto a sheet of paper should quickly flare up and form a vertical column of smoke, while the paper should not ignite and there should be no traces of soot (charring) on ​​it.

Smoke powder is easily ignited by flames and sparks. Its flash point is about 300. A lightning strike always causes an explosion. Small amounts of gunpowder only flash when ignited, while large ones explode.

The density of gunpowder can vary within 1.6-1.93 cm 3 . Gravimetric density 0.8--1.0 kg/l. Smoke powder has a high chemical resistance.

Increasing the amount of moisture has a significant effect on the flammability of gunpowder. With a moisture content of more than 2%, gunpowder is difficult to ignite, and at 15% moisture, it completely loses its ability to ignite.

Smoke powder is sensitive to impact and friction. In terms of impact sensitivity, it surpasses some blasting explosives.

Bullet impact at speeds over 500 m/s causes almost always an explosion of gunpowder.

When rubbed between the surfaces of iron or stone, black powder flares up or explodes.

The burning rate of gunpowder depends on the composition of the gunpowder, external pressure and on the density of powder elements.

The composition of the gunpowder, i.e. the ratio constituent parts, as already mentioned above, has an effect on the burning rate, but due to the fact that the composition of modern military gunpowder is almost the same, the influence of this factor is very small.

Experiments have shown that at a pressure of about 450 mm rt. Art. partial attenuation of the burning powder in the remote tubes begins (approximately 20-30% of the tubes die out), and at pressures below 350 mm rt. Art. all tubes shut down.

Burning rate of smoke powders pressed into spacer rings when burned in air 8--10 mm/sec.

The history of mankind is the history of inventions. Some ideas are forgotten a couple of years after they were born, something changes life radically. In military affairs, it is difficult to name a more revolutionary invention than black powder.

The appearance of gunpowder meant the end of an entire era, with its help entire empires and peoples were destroyed. Years of training with bladed weapons and expensive armor were now equal to a piece of metal pipe and several hours of training, and after a few years the latter completely took over. What seemed impossible before, obeyed the man who put gunpowder into service.

Creation

There is no documented document about who and when was the first to invent gunpowder, that is, he mixed saltpeter, coal and sulfur. Legends and stories tell different versions, but they all have a common feature. The inventors of gunpowder were the alchemists, the forerunners of modern scientists. The ancient scientists compensated for the lack of knowledge with remarkable energy in conducting experiments and self-confidence.

The cherished dream of any alchemist was the production of a substance that gave eternal youth and was able to turn any metal into gold. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. But mixing a variety of ingredients, they received the first ideas about the nature of things and the first simple chemical compositions. One of the compounds once burned the alchemist's eyebrows. According to one version, this is the learned sage Sun Si-miao, who lived in the 7th century BC.

Whoever the creator of gunpowder was, his invention at first did not cause much excitement among military officials. The magical exploding powder was of more interest to the court organizers of the holidays, who used it for fireworks.

Only in the 11th century already AD, the miracle powder began to be used as a combat filling for the "Fire Arrows", the prototype of modern missiles.

The impact of such a projectile into a crowd of lightly armored or not armored enemy soldiers at all caused monstrous consequences. True, this weapon did not differ in accuracy, well, if out of a dozen one hit the target, the use was rather demoralizing.

In the opinion of most researchers, gunpowder came to Europe along with Arab merchants along the Great Silk Road. There is a legend about the monk Berthold Schwartz, who accidentally received gunpowder in the 14th century. This story, on closer inspection, does not stand up to scrutiny. One has only to say that the constituent parts of gunpowder were known by this time, the case was behind the invention of a tool with which gunpowder would throw shells.

The first prototypes of cannons, used on the battlefields of Europe, marked a revolution not only in military affairs, but also in all related fields. Gunpowder spurred the industry, because for a shot you need a barrel made of high-quality metal. The storage of gunpowder caused problems, the development of packaging was required.

Saltpeter, a hygroscopic material that absorbs moisture from the environment, quickly fell into disrepair. Gunpowder quickly dampened if stored improperly.

At the same time, gunpowder made practically any armor useless, depriving the armorers of work. Medicine has come a long way since bullet wounds and burns are treated differently than stab wounds. By the way, representatives of medicine have repeatedly raised the issue of the prohibition of gunpowder as "an infernal potion that does not distinguish between rich and poor, commanders and recruits." And that was just the beginning.

Gunpowder was also used against stone.

The high walls of castles with the spread of cannons are a thing of the past, already in the 15th century, defensive architecture tends to thick low walls. Engineers are trying to dig in, create more bastions, uproots and trenches. In order to undermine these walls, tunnels are used, barrels of gunpowder are laid in them. So Kazan was taken by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.

Such devices were called mines, and often the besieged made counter-mines, destroying detachments of enemy sappers. Mines were also laid by the defending soldiers. In this case, the entire forward detachment of the attackers often perished, and the soldiers who followed them often did not have the courage to go through a gap in which several dozen comrades perished in a second.

Since the beginning of the use of the composition in the war, the problem of cleaning powder deposits has become a cornerstone. From the era of the Middle Ages to the present day, this moment has not changed. The barrel, even of a modern sniper rifle, not cleaned by a negligent or lazy shooter, breaks like hundreds of years ago.

Of course, with the use of new types of gunpowder, cleaning the barrel has become less of an issue, but any self-respecting owner of a gun knows the “shoot-clean” rule. By the way, in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, there was a method of express cleaning the barrel from soot during the battle. To do this, it was enough to urinate into the trunk.

What are different types of gunpowder made from?

The first samples of black powder were made from sulfur, saltpeter and honey with realgar, that is, arsenic monosulfide. Sometimes dried roots and other plants were used. But the mixture achieved the greatest effect when mixing sulfur, saltpeter and coal. This is how classic black powder was born. An important role was played by the percentage of substances during mixing. This was due to the characteristics of the substances themselves, since:

• sulfur, ignites at a temperature of only 200 degrees Celsius, in the classic recipe it is 10%;
• saltpeter, picks up the fire and releases the oxygen necessary for the combustion of the next element, it should be 75%;
• coal, providing gas evolution and energy pushing the projectile, 15% of the substance is enough.

Black powder may contain other proportions, but in these cases ballistic performance can seriously differ both up and down.

Too powerful gunpowder was also not needed in the troops.

The imperfection of the weapon when using a strong powder led to rapid wear of the barrel. The production of gunpowder was usually organized in sparsely populated parts of the city, not far from the river, on which water mills were set up to grind the composition.

Sometimes you can find fragments of the old craft in city names, for example, in Nizhny Novgorod there is a Zelensky congress. Potion in the old days was called gunpowder, and at the bottom of the ravine through which the road was laid, gunpowder was produced for the defense of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.

It is important to understand the difference between simply burning gunpowder and detonating it to explode. In open space, gunpowder is a specific combustible composition, with a high burning rate and heat released, but not explosive. Another thing is burning gunpowder in a shell. The emitted gases and smoke create pressure, which leads, in one case, to an explosion, in the other, if conditions are present, to a shot.

The restless military, in search of the perfect weapon, from the very beginning complained about the main drawback of black powder, in fact, the smoke itself. When fired, a gun or a fighter was covered with clouds of smoke; with a small wind, they did not dissipate for a long time. This unmasked the position, while at the same time making it difficult to aim.

In Russian, the saying “Fight in the Crimea, everything is in smoke ...” has been preserved with different, more or less decent endings.

Chemists decided to help the army, and in the 19th century, first in one, then in another, third, fifth country, samples of pyroxylin gunpowder began to appear. In Russia, the composition of this gunpowder was calculated by Mendeleev himself. According to legend, for this he only needed a list of wagons with raw materials entering the territory of the German powder factory.

It took some time to make the sample more stable, but the discovery was made and it can no longer be stopped. It was another revolution, because a new type of gunpowder, which had a much greater force, pushed forward not only bullets, but also industry, military affairs. World wars and conflicts of our time already use it.

Despite the actual conquest of world domination by smokeless types of gunpowder, black powder continues to enjoy wide popularity among the general population. It is used for fireworks, hunting rifles, various "male" toys such as crossbows, often standing fingers playing.

Black powder is bought in the store, you can try to cook it yourself. Step by step recipes are widely available in a variety of both book and electronic resources. In any case, you need to remember about the safety of both yourself and those around you.

In addition to the types of gunpowder presented, exotic options appear. For example, liquid gunpowder, which includes kerosene. Crazy, at first glance, the idea, on tests gave a fantastic result in terms of armor penetration.

Much information is classified as "secret" until now, but technical minds continue to develop this topic.

Quite often, kerosene is used as the main component in land mines (from the Latin focus - fire) and napalms (napalm - from the English naphthenic acid - naphthenic acid), but this is a slightly different story.

Types of gunpowder and manufacturers

It may seem that gunpowder comes in several varieties, depending on chemical composition, but it's not. The same formula can be embodied in completely different substances.

So, in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, the British army possessed the highest quality gunpowder. Despite the same formulas, the British used higher quality components mined in India, due to which their gunpowder was so highly valued.

Gunpowder and degrees of grinding differed. Hunters and special units in the army, the best shooters, had several types of this powder. The best, carefully measured gunpowder was in special flasks called Berendeyks. It was used only when the shot had to be single and accurate.

Artillery powder also differed in grinding. Of course, it was coarser than hunting powder, but in the era of muzzle-loading artillery, duels between crews were frequent, especially for the fleet. Conventionally, rockets can also be attributed to artillery.

>Despite the "terrible accuracy", experiments with these weapons were more or less successful in at least two armies, Russian and English, at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

These rockets also used their own type of gunpowder, usually of poor quality.

In the era of smokeless powder, specialization became much more complicated. Modern gunpowders differ in density, size and geometric shapes of powders, all this is calculated and determined by their characteristics.

Modern hunting gunpowder can be listed endlessly, but there are several samples that are basic for the production of cartridges:

• crook gunpowder, Ukrainian development, of the highest quality, which does not contain ingredients that increase barrel wear;
• gunpowder Sunar 410, a slow-burning composition that quickly found fans in the hunting environment;
• gunpowder silver, one of the most powerful samples on the hunting goods market;
• tajo gunpowder, a Spanish product, is one of the most controversial types of this product, the choice of which lies solely on the will and desire of the hunter himself.

Many other types of black powder have been developed and sold, but here it is difficult for fans to shoot with self-loaded cartridges to give advice, since everyone chooses for himself the best product for specific tasks. Priorities will still place the measure for gunpowder and experience.

Gunpowder on the pages of books and movies

Of course, such an important invention could not but leave a mark on culture. However, it is difficult to find a work in which black powder, or the discovery of black powder, would be given Special attention. In fact, we don’t think when we see a wheel in a movie or a book, do we? Many popular sayings also relate to this substance.

Where did the idea of ​​keeping gunpowder dry come from? If the gunpowder gets wet, the fighter is not ready to repel the attack. The legendary "Is there gunpowder in the powder flasks", meaning the presence or absence of strength to continue the struggle.

Meanwhile, there are several works that describe in detail the operations with gunpowder. For a better acquaintance with the manufacturing processes, it is worth referring to materials that tell about people lost in uninhabited areas. As a rule, they all try, with varying degrees of success, to get gunpowder on their own.

Much attention is paid to gunpowder in English literature describing the era of the Napoleonic Wars. So, in the cycle of books about Sharpe's adventures, in each volume there is at least one detailed mention of loading the Brown Bess musket and a nod to English gunpowder.

In the television series based on the books, gunpowder is also given quite a lot of attention.

Artillery powder is a common sight in Patrick O'Brian's Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey book series. Most of the technical side is devoted to the sailing fleet, but a lot of attention is also paid to artillery preparation.

Description of gunpowder can be found in unexpected works. The lion's share of authors ignore this composition, taking it for granted, but between the lines you can read about this, of course, one of the most important inventions of mankind.

The name has penetrated into our lives, and we can safely enjoy green powder tea, listen to Masha Powder, without thinking about what the listed everyday phenomena are named after, and not smell gunpowder from the battlefields that took place over the centuries.

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