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Text File  |  1992-09-03  |  400b  |  11 lines
  1. Or black powder the oldest known explosive, a
  2. mixture of 75% potassium nitrate (saltpetre),
  3. 15% charcoal, and 10% sulphur. Sulphur
  4. ignites at a low temperature, charcoal burns
  5. readily, and the potassium nitrate provides
  6. oxygen for the explosion. Although
  7. progressively replaced since the late 19th
  8. century by high explosives, gunpowder is
  9. still widely used for quarry blasting, fuses,
  10. and fireworks.
  11.