Did medieval gunpowder chemists know what they were doing? | Headline Science

Researchers at the West Point Military Academy are studying historic gunpowder formulas from the medieval era … by firing them out of an actual cannon.

“Energetics analysis of medieval black powder”
Presented at ACS Spring 2024 on March 18, 2024
Presenter: Dawn Riegner, Ph.D.

Credits:
Written and produced by Kerri Jansen
Edited by Elaine Seward
Narrated by Allison Tau
Executive produced by Matthew Radcliff

Research videos and images from Dawn Riegner, Ph.D.; Clifford Rogers, Ph.D.; Maj. Justin Hunter; Lt. Col. Samuel Cowart

Additional video: Shutterstock
Music: “Timeless Serenity” by dvine and “Shadowed” by John B. Lund from Epidemic Sound
Sound effects: SoundSnap

Medieval sources:
“Büchsenmeisterbuch”
Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
http://data.onb.ac.at/dtl/2316748

“War technology (Illuminated Manuscript)”
Zentralbibliothek Zürich
https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...

“Feuerwerkbuch von 1420”
Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2854#...

“Chroniques de Froissart”
Berlin Staatsbibliothek
copy by Paul Hermans via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

“Les Vigiles de Charles VII”
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

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