ABSTRACT
It may have begun with an early chef, somewhere in Asia, working over his cooking fire. He noticed that the saltpeter (potassium nitrate) he was using to season the evening meal caused the fire to glow more intensely when it hit the flames. Curiosity aroused, he then mixed the saltpeter with his charcoal and produced a burning mixture, but it was difficult to light. By adding a bit of brimstone (sulfur) to the mixture, the ignitability improved. After a lot of trial and error, the end result was a material that changed the world-black powder. This unique blend of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur illustrates so well how the selection of chemicals is critical to the development of a successful pyrotechnic composition.
