The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1915-04-29
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The Deadly Successors to Man..
First Crude Weapons.
FROM JAvELlM TO coRpITE

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Cannon and Guns Are Merely In the
Mature Of Chemical catapuhs-The
introduction Of Explosives and the
Principles Governing Them.
When the first man in the old stone
age thousands Of years ago threw his
nrst javelin against a hairy mammoth
he put his foot over the threshold of
the problem Of explosives. For it
seemed to him-and our feelings today
are with him-that 1t would be more
~pleasurable If one could hurt and kill
ones enemy without the gratuitous
thrill Of having to sit on the massive
tusk on the verge of a cavernous
mouth or Of having to approach with
an a few PAGES Of the huge legs which
might the next moment descend upon
him. It would be more convenient to
stand at the a v entrance on a dizzy
ledge of rock and hurl a weapon at the
distant enemy.
So man was driven to invent the
catapult, and a gun is merely a 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 a given moment In the re-
.Quired way.
Explosives are, therefore. tabloid en- sl
'ergy or power, andit is q just reminder
Of the fact. that some, Substances are
explosive generally, whereas. quite "a
number Of common things may be
made explosive by some particular
kind of treatment. When water Dolls
on the fire there is no explosion as it Is
changed into steam, but If the spout
were sealed and the whole of the wa
ter could be changed into steam in q
second there. you'd be an explosion.
And the instance Ia good because 1t IS
really a kitchen model Of a volcano.
Moreover, steam guns were. used in
America in the sixties.
The essential idea of an explosive is
then the violent, release Of some .pent.
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 a COM
pressed thing. The release gives rise
to an air wave, and this, of course, is
experienced as a sound. 1t is the
sound which is popularity called an ex-
plosion.
Now, 1t has been said that an explo-
stve is tabloid force, power, energy.
How is it made available2 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,
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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 a noise like ''pouf" and burns
quickly. Guncotton may be burned on
the hand-it is not to be recommended
as a fashionable hobby-without any
serious Inconvenience. Indeed, gun
powder was first used as an incendiary
composition. But a frework or a gun
charged with g%unpowder will explode
with a loud report and may cause ia
tai wounds.
Gunpowder is the best known ex-
plosive mixture. It Is made from the
commonest Experimentation, sui
phur and saltpeter. There are several
notifications Of %gunpowder, other
nitrates being substituted for the salt
peter-potassium nitrates. The nitrates
give the oxygen to the mixture, with
out which it would not burn at all,
other explosive mixtures containing
chkorates which have the same amount
Of oxygen as saltpeter and the nitrates.
The different powders are used in diff
ferent circumstances where a more
violent or a slower or a safe explosive
Is required, for it 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 a '1ow" explosive. Its explosion is
slow, and its effect is less violently
descriptive.
Dynamite is probably the best known
'fhigh" explosive, and the name does
not stand for one particular substance.
but for a large class. which are. in ef-
feet. diluted nitroglycerin and which
are generally used for blasting.
Guncotton may be described as a
nitrate of cotton wool (Which the
chemist would call cellulose). Both
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