Kennedy Wilson

2
nd
period Mrs. Obrien
4/28/14
The Big Bang, a History of Explosions
The book The Big Bang, a History of Explosions is by G.I. Brown. Sutton Publishing first
published this book in 2000 January 1
st
but was edited in 2010. This is a fiction book that is 278
pages long. The first pages give a fine flavor to the Big Bang, with the intriguing story of Greek fire,
and how it was ousted by the new-fangled gunpowder. Laying the emphasis on the lives of the
people involved, on the diverse uses of explosions and on their social and historical impact, the
author relates a story of remarkable international and human endeavor.
It all started early in 900 BC. Early writers would give detailed and sometimes lurid
accounts of the use of incendiaries. Herodotus describes how arrows tipped with burning tow
were used in the capture of the Athens in 480 BC and Thucydides tells how a huge bonfire was lit
against the wooden walls of Platea in 429 BC. In the book Brown talks about the basics and the
building of gunpowder and how it slowly became popular over time. Gunpowder is both the best
known and the oldest explosives, buts it origins are shrouded in some mystery. The most
authoritative modern view is the gunpowder was first made in China in the middle of the ninth
century AD, by the Thang alchemists.
The earliest use of gunpowder was certainly in the fireworks, for which the Chinese have
always had a passion, but the possibility of making simple bombs and grenades was realized during
the eleventh century. Gunpowder is easy to handle, easy to set off and very safe , so far as any
explosive can be regarded as safe. If lit in the open it simply burns away very quickly even in the
absence of air. The major disadvantages are its lack of power, its production of a lot of nasty
smoke and fumes when it explodes, and its failure to explode when its damp. In the early days
setting off gunpowder always involved some type of fire or heat.
Roger Bacon, a man who first made known of the composition of gunpowder in China,
laid the foundations of modern science. He prophesied the making of the machines to propel
vessels through water without sails, or chariots to travel on. He was put in prison, persecuted, ans
starved by the suspicious ignorance of his contemporaries, but a fuller knowledge now acclaims
and honors him as one of the greatest of mankind. Some even doubt that Bacons claim to be the
first to bring the news of gunpowder to the West, for others describe that there were others active
around the same time.
The process of making gunpowder has been changed numbers of times. At first
gunpowder was made by simply powdering three components separately and then grinding them
together in a mortar with ah hand operated pestle. Later, stamp mills were used, the mixture
being pounded in wooden mortars by wooden headed stamps which were moved up and down,
originally by hand but, from the middle of the fifteenth century, by using horse or watePr power.
The method was always hazardous because the friction and percussion from the pestle frequently
caused the gunpowder to explode or burn. Then came long machines that helped made
gunpowder. The introduction of the incorporating mill and the corning process greatly increased
the variety of gunpowder products that could be made to meet demands if different uses.
Once gunpowder was discovered, some three hundred years later, it did not take the
Chinese long to use it in improving their crackers and in making a whole range of other fireworks.
Gunpowder was not all bad. It provided such fun and pleasure in fireworks for so many years. The
essential features of these early fireworks have remained largely unchanged except for detailed
refinement over the centuries. The simple fireworks rocket consists of a tube, generally made of
cardboard, closed at its upper end. The tube is filled with a pressed gunpowder mixture through
the open, lower end of the tube and a conical hole is drilled down the center of the powder. A
slow burning fuse leads to the powder through the lower hole, which is constricted to some extent
once the tube is filled.
Not only was fireworks created with gunpowder but it was also helpful to those at war.
Many people in war had cannons and rockets that had gunpowder in them. This caused a good
amount a damage done to the cities. Many people were killed also. During the later years they
found it easier to make gunpowder into a war tool. They had little things almost as bullets filled
with gunpowder in them. This is one of the main reasons why gunpowder was so popular back
then. The military uses of gunpowder did however consequences had. There was numbers of
reasons why early guns didnt live up to their expectations. They could only be charged and fired
very slowly, if they were heavy they were difficult to handle. Mainly on a boarding ship and loading
through the muzzle.
Gunpowder varied greatly in quality and was very susceptible to damp. It wasnt cheap
so gunnery and was costly business. Still more important, the guns were so unreliable and the
solid iron or stone shot which they propelled could only inflict very limited damage on a target of
any strength. Most of the other disadvantages of the guns were over during the nineteenth
centuries. Slow burning fuses were then replaced first by clockwork devices and by 1850 by
percussion or concussion fuses.
Brown writing is powerful to me. It makes you feel like you were in those times and that
you could imagine everything going on. My overall thought would be okay. I mean its not that
interesting to read but you can be guaranteed to learn something out the book. It might not be the
most interesting topic either. There are some strengths and weaknesses about this book. I feel like
at time they were talking about the same thing over and over again. Then at other times they
made it more interesting and more better so read. So it was easier to understand.
This book did leave a interest in me. I would like to k ow more about gunpowder and
how it affected some other people and when did it become so popular since there was barely any
technology. I think that Brown put all his hard work and time plus effort to make a incredible well
educated book like this. I would be interested in reading more of his book that he has.