DR, H. DEBUS ON THE CHEMICAL THEORY OF GUNPOWDER. 
567 
If then we put in equation (VIII.) a;=16, 21*18, z=5, and for a, the carbonic 
oxide, the number 3'23, found by experiment, we obtain for the principal products 
values which in the following table have been placed by the side of those found by 
experiment :— 
1 6KNO s 
+ 21-18C 
+ 5S 
k 2 co 3 
Theory. 
5-01 
Experiment. 
4-98 
0-96 
0-90 
ka 
2U1 
2-10 
CO, 
12-93 
13*13 
CO 
3-23 
3-23 
8-00 
8-67 
The theoretical numbers agree in a very satisfactory manner with those found by 
experiment. 
According to what has been stated in these pages, we conceive the metamorphosis 
of gunpowder to take place in a shell, or in the bore of a gun, in the following manner. 
In the first moments after ignition, during the explosion, powders of different 
composition burn according to the equation 
16KN0 3 +13C+5S=3K s C0 3 +5K 3 S0 4 +9C0 2 +C0 + 8N 3 
and in case of a shell which will burst almost immediately and its contents be scattered 
about, no further changes take place. 
In the bore of a gun the gases expand, move the shot, and by the performance 
of this work lose a portion of their energy; the products of the first stage of the 
metamorphosis, potassic carbonate and potassic sulphate, remain at a red heat, in a 
fluid condition, for a longer time in contact with free carbon and sulphur, and produce, 
according to equations (V.) and (VI.), an additional quantity of carbonic acid. This 
carbonic acid, which is generated during the movement of the shot in the bore, 
prevents the too rapid diminution of the tension of the gases; the heat of the solid 
products is, in part, transformed into vis viva of the gas molecules. If the gun were 
long enough and the quantities of carbon and sulphur not too large, every atom of 
the former might be oxidised by the oxygen of the potassic sulphate, and the entire 
amount of the sulphur be converted into potassic disulphide and sulphate by contact 
with potassic carbonate. But in reality this second stage of the metamorphosis is 
perhaps never complete; the shot will have left the gun before the termination of 
these comparatively slow reactions. 
The mining powders, strictly considered, do not belong to the category of gun¬ 
powders ; they contain a large excess of carbon and sulphur. But as their meta¬ 
morphosis dearly shows the source of the by-products of the combustion of gunpowder, 
we will discuss here the analytical data furnished by Noble and Abel of an 
experiment with a sample obtained from Curtis and Harvey. 
MDCCCLXXXII. 4 D 
