If one refers to the word chemistry, images of little men in white labcoats poring over pages and pages of notes while a test tubes bubbles away, then suddenly an idea pops into their mind. This is the biased image of chemistry. In the outside world, it is so much more than simply test tubes and beakers. Chemistry IS our world. Take for instance gunpowder. It is used frequently, yet people do not realise that there is a practical application of chemistry involved throughout the extraction, processing, refining and detonation of it.
The first recorded explosive was "black powder", which consists of a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal. When prepared in roughly the correct proportions (75 percent saltpeter, 14 percent charcoal, and 11 percent sulfur), it burns rapidly when ignited and produces approximately 40 percent gaseous and 60 percent solid products, the latter mostly appearing as whitish smoke. The saltpeter was originally extracted from compost......

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Title: Gunpowder
Approximate Word Count: 2324
Approximate Pages: 10 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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