Gunpowder invention: Impact on the society - Research Paper Example

The black powder was the name of the common formulae of this explosive. The world of war technologies saw the innovation of gunpowder in the first millennium by the Chinese and posed a threat to human lives. In the early period of the 9th century there was the use of gunpowder in fireworks and even matches in the People’s Republic of China. The innovation of the gunpowder had been a revolutionary incident in the history of the war technology. The workings of gunpowder were possible through the rapid burning of sulphur along with carbon in oxygen that was released through the thermal dissolution of Potassium Nitrate or saltpeter, resulting in the emersion and quick expansion of hot gases.

With certain differences in the proportion of the ingredients in the mixture there used to occur changes in the properties of the black powder. For example if the percentage of the saltpeter content of it was slightly increased then the speed of the combustion of the material experienced considerable increase. Gunpowder became easily famous among the militaries as the ingredients required to produce it was easily available in the country. The innovation of the gunpowder helped in the routinely combating the enemies from a safe distance.

It could also be used in huge quantities for elimination of stuffs like city walls or any buildings like the parliament house of any country. The way gunpowder invention had been able of revolutionizing the concept of war had till date not been achieved by any other inventions. In the past the uses of weapons like archers and catapults have confined the war phenomenon into a man to man affair. The first person to suggest the recipe of the gunpowder Francis Bacon was unaware of the fact that the hot gas that resulted from it had the capacity of pushing away everything that came across its way.

However what he knew at the time of the invention is that an unprecedented bang will result in the application of a lighted tapper to the gunpowder mixture. The result of the invention is that a small army armed with the guns was now able of defeating oppositions of huge numbers. For the users of the technology, it got better and progressed each day and just the opposite for the oppositions. Until the 19th century no better and useful explosive like the gunpowder had been discovered. However the growth of more and more modern technologies urges the growth of new innovative items of explosions.

The possibilities of chemical reactions were exhausted in the search of a big bang. Thus beyond the imagination of Bacons the modern world saw the innovations of weapons of bigger bangs by the process of transmutation of one element with the other. However even when the black powder was replaced by high energetic explosives, it remained at the cutting edge of the technology used by the militaries. The only explosive widely used by military activities till mid 19th century even after the inventions of the explosives based on nitroglycerine was the Chinese black powder.

(The Economist, 1999) The innovations of these devastating technologies have huge impact on the society, the environment of the country. Many organizations and individuals have been occupied in the debate about these social impacts. Technology increases the safety of the soldiers using it, however reduces it for those on the other side of the front. Since both of them are human beings of blood and soul, it is creating a contrast of helping one by destroying the other. History proved events of immense destruction of mankind and society through terrific attack of military troops using these modern technolog