Show J I Exploding Gun Cotton on Bare Bar Hand J P F some one should place a wad of I IF guncotton on tho the palm of your jour our I II hand and threaten to touch it off cuff with witha I a lighted match you would be fright fright- ened Yet you need not be for al although although although al- al I though guncotton Is one of ot the he most powerful of ot ordinary explosives It I would not nol hurt you When dry guncotton Is exposed to the air it does not explode when Ig Ignited Ig- Ig d but burns with great rapidity So rapidly does the burning take place that if it a loose wad of ot the tho material beheld beheld be bo held in the hand band and touched with fire there is a sudden flash and an instant later not a trace of smoke or a amark amark amark mark on the hand remains remans to Indicate what has taken place Guncotton does not detonate unless It U Is confined as in the barrel of ot a gun When dry however howe guncotton can be bo mado to explode with great violence by being struck sharply between two hard surfaces Detonation as such an explosion is called is quito qute a different phenomenon from burning It seems to consist In the instantaneous disintegration of the molecules s of the exploding exploding ex ex- substance It Is as though all the bricks in a great building were in ina ina a fraction of ot a second to be scattered about Greater New York When Then moistened sufficiently with water guncotton Is not affected eIther by fire file or blows blows' In this state it can be compressed mashed to a pulp or worked into various shapes without danger Only the explosion of ot a piece of ot the dry material or priming with fulminate of mercury can make wet guncotton detonate On this account wet guncotton has been made use of ot ofIn ofin In blasting Guncotton is a mixture of ot various nitrates formed when clean dry cotton is treated with strong nitric acid and for most purposes with sulphuric acid also It If the product has a low Jow degree of ot nitration that nitration that is to say it if little nitric acid be used In the making making making-It It may be partially dissolved by br certain esters such as acetone I or a mixture of ether and alcohol It J forms Corms a colloidal solution and the resulting re re- re- re jetty Jelly Is particularly well fitted to use in a gun on account of ot the savIng sav sac sav ing of ot space |