Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-04-28
POWDER AND BALL
The Deadly Successors to Mans
First Cru6e Weapons.
FROM JAvELIN TO coRDITE.

Mature OF Chemical Catapuits--The
| introduction Of Explosives and the
| Principles Governing Them.
| When the first man In the old stone
| age thousands of years ago threw his
first javelin against hairy mammoth
he put his foot over the threshold Of
the problem Of explosives. For 1t
seemed to him-and our feelings today
are with him-that it would be more
pleasurable IL one could hurt and kill
ones enemy without the gratuitous
| thrill Of having to sit on the massive
! tusk on the verge Of cavernous
mouth or OF having to approach with
In few PAGES of the huge legs which
might the next moment descend upon
him. 1t would be more convenient to
stand at the cave entrance on dizzy
ledge of rock and hurl weapon at the
distant enemy.
| SO man was driven to invent the
catapult. and gun is merely chemi-
| cal catapult The trigger is pulled
back like the leather of the catapult
and the sudden and extraordinary ex-
| pansion of the explosive corresponds
to the elasticity OF the rubber or
spring, the essential feature of both
| instruments being the employment of
some source of more than human pow
er which can be made to yield up its
energy at n given moment In the re-
| quired way.
| Explosives are, therefore, tabloid en-
| ergy or power. and it Is Il Just reminder
! of the fact that some substances are
I explosive generally, whereas quite a
number of common things may be
made explosive by some particular
/ kind OF treatment. When water boils
on the fire there Is no explosion as it Is
| changed into steam, but ii the spout
We're sealed and the whole of the wa
4 ter could be changed into steam in n
| second there would be an explosion.
And the instance is good because 1t is
really Il kitchen model OF volcano.
Moreover, steam guns were used In
America In the sixties.
| The essential idea OF an explosive Is
up thing; just the opposite, from this
standpoint, OF the catapult. which
| works by allowing a distended thing
\ the elastic-to contract suddenly.
| whereas all explosives release q com
| pressed thing. The release gives rise
| TO an air wave. and this. OF course, is
experienced as sound 1t Is the
\ a., forl.- tt...J
| plosion.
| Now, 1t has been said that an explo-
| sive is tabloid force, power. energy.
| How is IL made available? 1t Is easy
| to follow the mechanism Of an explo-
sive further. Explosives. as common
~ used, are solid substances which, By
burning. produced almost instantane-
ously an extraordinary large volume Of
| gases. The heat and pressure of a
blow cause the burning to start, and
the burning also produces heat which,
acting upon the gases. increases the
volume still further 1t may be sug-
| gested that there Is no obvious reason
| why even a sudden and enormous ex-
| pansion should cause the damage OF
an explosion. And the suggestion Is
| quite just.
1t is only when they are confined
that explosives are really dangerous.
Gunpowder burned In the open merely
causes noise like "pouf" and burns
| quickly. Guncotton may be burned on
the hand-it Is not to be recommended
as fashionable bobby-without any
serious Inconvenience. Indeed. gun
powder was first used as an incendiary
composition. But firework or a gun
| charged with gunpowder will explode
with loud report and may cause fa-
tai wounds.
Gunpowder is the best known ex-
plosive mixture. 1t Is made from the
commonest ngredients-carbon, sui
phur and saltpeter. There are several
qualifications Of gunpowder. other
nitrates being substituted for the salt
peter potassium nitrates. The pitrates
give the oxygen to the mixture. with
out which it would not burn at all,
! other explosive mixtures containing
CELEBRATES which have the same amount
OF oxygen as saltpeter and the nitrates.
The different powders are used in diff
1 ferent circumstances where more
violent or a slower or safe explosive
is required. for 1t is not always the
same effect which one asks from an
explosive. Velocity may at times be
sacrificed. say. in favor Of a higher
weight Of common shell. Gunpowder
! Is low" explosive. Its explosion Is
slow, and its effect Is less violently
disruptive.
Dynamite is probably the best known
4 "high" explosive, and the name does
not stand for one particular substance.
but for large class. which are, in ef-
feet, diluted nitroglycerin and which
are generally used for blasting.
Guncotton may be described as
| nitrate of cotton wool (which the
chemist would call cellulosel. Both