http://www.ck12.org Chapter 11. Chemical Reactions
Medieval Europe
This recipe made its way to Europe in medieval times. A Franciscan friar named Roger Bacon was particularly
fascinated by the properties of gunpowder. He discovered that a key factor in the energetics of the mixture was the
purity of the saltpeter. Bacon was responsible for developing early crystallization techniques to purify the mixture.
He also discovered that the more tightly packed the powder, the larger the explosion.
Bacon feared that bad things could happen if the mixture ended up in the wrong hands. He encoded the recipe in an
anagram, which read (when translated from the original Latin)“And so thou wilt call up thunder and destruction if
thou know the art.”The secret recipe, however, did not stay secret for long.
FIGURE 11.3
Pyrotechnics, or fireworks, used in events recorded in 14thcentury Italy show that the recipe was no longer a secret.
During the 15thand 16thcenturies, the Italians continued refining the art of pyrotechnics. Then, in 1830, a major
leap forward in gunpowder technology occurred. It was discovered that replacing potassium nitrate with potassium
chlorate resulted in a more energetic mixture, and so the recipe was revised once again.