86 Experinicnts 2Lpon Gunpowder. 



As the powder itself is heavy, it may be considered as 

 a weight that is put in motion along with the bullet; 

 and if we suppose the density of the generated fluid is 

 always uniform from the bullet to the breech, the veloc- 

 ity of the center of gravity of the powder, or (which 

 amounts to the same thing) of the elastic fluid, and the 

 gross matter generated from it will be just half as great 

 as the velocity of the bullet. If therefore we put P to 

 denote the weight of the powder, B the weight of the 

 bullet, and v its initial velocity : then B i; -|- 4- P '^ =: 

 B -|- i P X '^ will express the momentum of the charge 

 at the instant when the bullet quits the bore. 



If now, instead of ascertaining the relation of the ve- 

 locities to the weights of the bullets, we add half the 

 weight of the powder to the weight of the bullet and 

 compute the velocities from the reciprocal sub-tripli- 

 cate ratio of the quantity B -[- ^ P in each experiment, 

 the table will stand thus : — 



The agreement between the actual and computed ve- 

 locities is here very remarkable, and particularly in the 

 five first experiments, which are certainly those upon 

 which the greatest dependence may be placed. 



