Dunno where else to ask this....anywho, chemistry problem on gunpowder

[Bahamut2000X]

Well I have a chemistry project, and I chose to do a report on gun powder. Well unlucky me, but of the 20ish sites I visited I couldn't find a single site that gives me the formula for gun powder, only just different equations leading up to it, but never the final product or anything close to it.

So I was wondering if anyone knew a site I could possibly find this answer or if anyone knew offhand what it was.

[alexholker]

"a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in a 75:15:10 ratio which is used in gunnery, time fuses, and fireworks" I'd assume that this ratio is by weight.

potassium nitrate is KNO3
charcoal is " The residue, primarily carbon, from the partial combustion of wood or other organic matter." So mainly carbon, C.
sulphur is sulphur, S.

Gunpowder isn't made up of a single type of molecule, it is made up of a mixture of each of those components I mentioned. I hope that helps.

[Leeza]

Did you check these out?

http://www.textfiles.com/anarchy/gunpowder

http://www.unitednuclear.com/bp.htm

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/gunpowder.htm

[o_O]

There are two main types of gunpowder, black powder and ballistite, or poudre B.

Black powder is a mixture of carbon, sulfur and potassium nitrate (KNO₃). That's the stuff that's used in fireworks.

Ballistite and poudre B produce no smoke, and are used in artillery. It contains mixtures of 50% C₆H₈(NO₂)2O₅ (nitrocellulose) and about 50% C₃H₅N₃O₉ (nitroglycerine) or CH₄N₄O₂ (nitroguanidine).

Hope that helps. :p