Wool and Black Powder Smoke

[unixken]

4KNO₃ + C₇H₄O + 2S => 2K₂S +4CO₂ + 3CO + 2H₂O + 2N₂

Dang. I was a Voc-Tech student. Never took chemistry. All I know is that H₂O is water, and K₉P comes from the south end of a dog.

[O'Searcaigh]

Dang. I was a Voc-Tech student. Never took chemistry. All I know is that H₂O is water, and K₉P comes from the south end of a dog.

Sorry for the chemical goblty goop -- (I can't read -- even pronounce the Gaelic I often see on XMarks, ' wised I could) - Of course, all those letters in "Chemistry" (not nearly as confusing as Gaelic) just mean: "put saltpeter together with charcoal and a little sulfur, light it up (or put it under pressure) and BAM! -- you get potassium sulfide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water and nitrogen --- all gasses!! (no sulfuric acids). Oh yes, for more "formulas" there is of course also R₂D₂ and C₃PO -- which I would not recommend trying to put together as "chemicals" but make really nice robots !!! K₉P Love it (the joke, not so much the "chemical" that comes out of my dog, especially in the house on the floor!

[A Lenape Scot]

I have been a historic weapons supervisor for 5 years with the National Park Service. I am in charge of two six pound cannons and one 12 pounder along with several flintlock and percussion muskets. We are required to wear wool and cotton because modern material melts to the skin when it gets burned. Many of our uniforms are 20 years old. The civil war uniform I wear I have personally owned for 8 years. As bad as it sounds I have not dry cleaned it because I want it to look like I am on campaign not just issued from the quarter master. Only have brushed it clean and rinsed off mud with water. This same uniform I wear when cleaning the cannons. All of our uniforms are still soft. Light seems to do more damage to the wool than shooting black powder cannons.