Does anyone know the composition of Black powder?(Gunpowder)?

I think that the mixture is made of sulfur, charcoal, and some other things that i don't know and i also need to learn the quantity of each ingredient.Does anyone know the composition of Black powder?(Gunpowder)?
Mostly sodium nitrate about 70%, about 20% sulfur, and 10% carbon.





The trick to making good black powder is that you have to have it all finely powdered, mixed well with water, then you dry it out in an oven (Yes, in an oven!) If you don't have your oven temperature just right, you can blow yourself up!!!! NOT to be tried at home!





You can buy a can of black powder for about $25 at a gun store. Much safer and cheaper!





Why do you need black powder? I hope you're not planning to blow anything up!





I'm a chemist and I've tried making small (less than 1 g) quantities of black powder and it's never been very good... it just sort of sparkles and fizzles, doesn't really blow up. So, if I were you, I'd buy the stuff at a gun store.





I really hope you're an antique gun enthusiast and NOT a psycho/terrorist.





Take care!


DavidDoes anyone know the composition of Black powder?(Gunpowder)?
Be sure to have an adult supervise any experimenting you do. Remember be responsible. At 12 years old if you have the mental capacity to study this kind of chemistry you are also capable of having good common sense. Take care!! Report Abuse

anuragmaken


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Gunpowder, explosive powder used in ballistics, specifically, black powder, an explosive mixture of about 75 per cent potassium nitrate, 15 per cent charcoal, and 10 per cent sulphur. Gunpowder was the first explosive known. The formula for gunpowder appears in the writings of the 13th-century English monk Roger Bacon, but it seems to have been discovered by the Chinese, who had used it in firecrackers several hundred years before his time. Gunpowder was probably introduced into Europe from the Middle East. Berthold Schwarz, a German monk of the early 14th century, may have been the first person to employ gunpowder for propelling a projectile. Whatever the precise dates and identities of its first discoverers and users, it is certain that gunpowder was manufactured in England in 1334 and that powder-manufacturing plants existed in Germany in 1340. In the time of Elizabeth I, the manufacture of gunpowder was conducted as a monopoly of the Crown. Regulations relating to gunpowder in England date from about 1623. It was the only explosive known until the discovery of fulminating gold, a powerful explosive first used in 1628 in European wars