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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The 1998 Dexter Award address "from an instrument of war to an instrument of the laboratory: The affinities certainly do not change" chemists and the development of munitions

Mauskopf, Seymour H.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126146

Description

Title
The 1998 Dexter Award address "from an instrument of war to an instrument of the laboratory: The affinities certainly do not change" chemists and the development of munitions
Author(s)
Mauskopf, Seymour H.
Issue Date
1999-09-15
Keyword(s)
  • History
  • Chemistry
  • History Military Propellant Gunpowder Guncotton Abel
Abstract
Focus is made on the work of the English munitions chemist, Frederick Abel, who tried to tame the explosive properties of guncotton to use it as a military propellant in the 1860s. Guncotton is the first really serious rival to gunpowder. It is a highly nitrated form of cellulose, made by treating cotton with concd. nitric and sulfuric acid. Abel achieved part of this objective by 1865 and appeared to be very optimistic about developing a smokeless military propellant from guncotton that would replace gunpowder. He abruptly abandoned his research in the late 1860s and instead embarked on a massive study of the function of gunpowder in guns of all calibers.
Publisher
Division of the History of Chemistry
ISSN
1053-4385
Type of Resource
text
Genre of Resource
article
Language
eng
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126146
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc1999n24p001
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1999 Division of the History of Chemistry

Owning Collections

Bulletin for the History of Chemistry: Number 24, 1999 PRIMARY