Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, And Pyrotechnics

The book, Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World by Jack Kelly is about the history of gunpowder, how it evolved to become more powerful and explosive, and how it affected the many wars that occurred. Gunpowder was first invented by Chinese alchemists around 1110 A.D. They called the perfect mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur "fire drug," before it was known as gunpowder. The Chinese used the powder primarily for making noise for their festivals. However; as time went on, and as the powder became more advanced, people started using it to make weapons. These weapons were very slow and inaccurate, but over time, they became more efficient, faster to load, and more accurate. 2) The setting of the book is mostly everywhere around the earth. There are different locations for each part of the book, because gunpowder spread across the globe and some people within different countries did things to help improve the effectiveness of gunpowder. Some of the settings include at sea or at a bay for a naval war. Some other places in the book are in a lab or in a gunpowder factory. Another setting in the book is …show more content…
The early gunpowder for use in weapons was weak, the light guns were unreliable and inefficient, and these weapons could only fire small scraps of metal. The accuracy of these weapons was atrocious and reloading took a long time. Around the early 1300's, blacksmiths made a new cannon design using wrought iron. They made a barrel shape using a wooden pole in the center, and hammered the wrought iron together. They put hot iron rings over the barrel, and that made the classic cannon. The new cannon design could be made as big or as small as desired. The new cannon could fire bigger projectiles, was more powerful, and the powder chamber was easier and faster to