Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-07-01
Washin9ton Standard
FIRING SINGH GUNS.
What This Really Mean, Effect
iron Body and Mind.

W hat This Really Means illSSt
Iron Body and Mind.
Not one man in ten thousand has
a clear idea OF just what happens when
i hg cannon is fired. The physical
manifestations are numerous. Even
professors Of chemistry and physics
are stumpcd when they want to dii-
frcntiatc all the ga>eS set loose and
the peculiar effects they induce. The
puff OF wh;tish smoke, the flash Of fire,
the dim image OF the flying projectlle,
the roar and the recoil are all familiar,
but back OF all these is 4 complex
mas, OF phenomena most bewildering
to the mind OF any but an artillery ex-
pert. First, the cubes, disks, heXagons
or irregular Jumps OF powder are chem
ically transformed into powerful, ex-
panding gas, the instant firing takes
place, says the New York World. Then
there are innumerable by-products
that even chemists do not understand.
The explosion OF gunpowder is di-
vided into three distinct stages, called
the ignition, inflammation and COM
bustion. The ignition is the setting
on fire OF the first grain, while the in
fammation is the spreading of the
flame over the surface of the powder
from the point of ignition. Combus-
ton is the burning up OF each grain.
The value of gunpowder is due in the
fact that when subjected to sufficient
heat it becomes gas which expands
with frightful rapidity. The so-called
explosion that takes place when a
match is touched to gunpowder is
merely chemical change, during
which there is a sudden evolution of
glass from the original solid.
1t has been calculated that ordinary
gunpowder on exploding expands
about nine thousand times, or fills q
space this much larger as a gas than
when in q solid form. When this
chemical change takes place in a
closed vessel the explosion may be
made to do a work like that of forcing
projectile along the bore OF the great
gun or test.tube in the line of least
resistance.
The chemical composition of gun
powder is very simple. The ordinary
English or brown gunpowder used at
present in the United States navy is
composed Of ten per cent. potassium
nitrate, Is per cent. charcoal and 10
per cent. sulphur. At the instant of
explosion the nitrate of soda gives off
oxygen, which combines With the
carbon OF the charcoal, forming car
bondioxide gas.
It has been calculated that only
about 43 per cent. by weight Of the
powder is converted by the explosion
into gas. The remaining IS per cent.
becomes liquid the moment of ex-
plosion, and on solidifying becomes
potassium sulphate, potassium car
Donate and potassium sulphide. A
great many other combinations take
place, and various solids are formed
which have never been successfully
analysed.
The ordinary charges placed in the
Pinch guns Of the United States
warships during this complicated
chemical Transformation exert a pres.
sure on the walls of the cannon of
about forty-three tons to the square
inch. This force serves to start the
projectile and develops speed OF 2,Ol9
feet per second by the time the shot
reaches the muzzle of the cannon.
Up to this stage of the explosion the
chemical action has. gone on in per-
feet silence. The tremendous report
which plays such havoc with the
nerves of the gunners is not caused by
the explosion itself. But as the pro-
lectile emerges from the muzzle it
leaves behind it a vacuum in the bar
rel of the gun, and the report is caused
by the air in its rush to fill up this
empty space.
The hardest work a gunner is called
upon to do is to stand the tremendous
shock. The forces exerted by these
gases in expanding seem to radiate in
all directions from the cannon, as rip
Piles are caused by dropping a pebble
in q pool of still water AS matter
OF fact, it has been discovered that
these lines of force are exceedingly
complicated affairs, and play very
queer pranks about the cannon. As
result, few people know just which is
the safest or the most dangerous place
for a gunner to take beside his gun
The center of disturbance at the mo-
ment of explosion is the mouth of the
gun. In the case of the great 13-inch
guns on our monitors, a position back
of the gunner is much easier than one
nearer the muzzle.
In addition to this force there is an
immense pressure exerted on the sides
of the cannon, so that another dis
tinct series of shocks also raditates
outward from the barrel of the gun.
These lines OF force are influenced, be-
sides, by the recoil of the gun, which