invention of gunpowder Concepts

Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science

by James Poskett · 22 Mar 2022 · 564pp · 168,696 words

ceremony closed with a spectacular display of another Chinese discovery. Fireworks lit up the sky above the Bird’s Nest Stadium, a nod towards the invention of gunpowder during the Song dynasty. Yet throughout the ceremony, there was very little reference to the many scientific breakthroughs that China has contributed to since then

Energy and Civilization: A History

by Vaclav Smil · 11 May 2017

incendiary materials to arrowheads, or to hurl them in containers from catapults. Sulfur, petroleum, asphalt, and quicklime were used in these incendiary mixtures. Only the invention of gunpowder combined the propulsive force with great explosive and inflammatory power. Animate Power Animate energies remained the most important prime mover for most of humanity until

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after its end. All historical conflicts have been fought with weapons, but weapons are not the prime movers of war: two exceptions aside, until the invention of gunpowder the only prime movers of wars were human and animal muscles. The first exception was the use of incendiary materials; the second, of course, was

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projectile (spears, arrows, heavy weights discharged by catapults and trebuchets)—were designed to maximize physical damage through the sudden release of kinetic energy. Only the invention of gunpowder introduced a new, and much more powerful, prime mover. The explosive reaction of chemicals could propel projectiles faster and farther and increase their destructive impact

The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution

by David Wootton · 7 Dec 2015 · 1,197pp · 304,245 words

as an abrupt transformation that affects everybody at the same time, there is no Scientific Revolution – and no Neolithic Revolution, or Military Revolution (following the invention of gunpowder), or Industrial Revolution (following the invention of the steam engine) either. But we need to acknowledge the existence of extended, patchy revolutions if we want

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he has to offer is not a voyage into the unknown but a commentary on Livy. Unsurprisingly, Machiavelli thought it perfectly obvious that, despite the invention of gunpowder, Roman military tactics remained the model that all should follow: the whole purpose of his Art of War (1519) was to write for those who

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belong to states. Real cities have been replaced by coordinates; real places by theoretical spaces. Geometry also acquired new importance as a result of the invention of gunpowder: fortifications had now to be built to resist cannon balls, which fly (as seen from a bird’s-eye view) in straight lines. In order

The Ages of Globalization

by Jeffrey D. Sachs · 2 Jun 2020

-powered galleys were effective battering rams against opposing navies. The steppe-region archers sweeping in on horseback landed decisive blows on opposing infantries. China’s invention of gunpowder gave rise, centuries later, to the musket and other firearms that, in turn, decisively ended the advantages of the archers. The cannon artillery enabled by

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari · 1 Jan 2011 · 447pp · 141,811 words

set up a medieval Manhattan Project to save the empire by inventing a doomsday weapon. Only in the fifteenth century – about 600 years after the invention of gunpowder – did cannons become a decisive factor on Afro-Asian battlefields. Why did it take so long for the deadly potential of this substance to be

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the pot on the stove and the water boiled over. Nobody saw their real potential. A partial breakthrough in converting heat into movement followed the invention of gunpowder in ninth-century China. At first, the idea of using gunpowder to propel projectiles was so counter-intuitive that for centuries gunpowder was used primarily

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expert ground gunpowder in a mortar only to have the pestle shoot out with force – guns made their appearance. About 600 years passed between the invention of gunpowder and the development of effective artillery. Even then, the idea of converting heat into motion remained so counter-intuitive that another three centuries went by

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom

by Simon Winchester · 1 Jan 2008 · 385pp · 105,627 words

critics and admirers would later say—had thus been rewarded by this one visit to a small Yangzi-side town in central Sichuan. The Chinese invention of gunpowder was far older, he now suspected, than had hitherto been assumed. The second reason for the importance of the visit to Lizhuang was his discovery

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century

by P. W. Singer · 1 Jan 2010 · 797pp · 227,399 words

, individual ferocity often carried the day in battle (think Mel Gibson in Braveheart), and so it was an attribute that was greatly admired. With the invention of gunpowder and forces lining up in battle to fight each other, the ultimate value became steadfastness under fire; courage now meant standing in the line with

The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning

by Jeremy Lent · 22 May 2017 · 789pp · 207,744 words

humanity's separation from nature, the idea of “conquering nature” was unthinkable. With this cognitive structure, even the most potentially disruptive forces, such as the invention of gunpowder or the invasion of the Mongols, could be subsumed and incorporated into the social fabric. During the Song dynasty, when Chinese civilization was at a

Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition

by Robert N. Proctor · 28 Feb 2012 · 1,199pp · 332,563 words

years. Chemical means of kindling fires have been around for centuries, though elaborate preparation was sometimes necessary, and techniques were not always reliable. China’s invention of gunpowder in the ninth century made it possible to make a fire by impact, but this was never very practical. The British philosopher Robert Boyle, better

Shadow of the Silk Road

by Colin Thubron · 1 Jan 2006 · 419pp · 124,522 words

feudal age in Europe; and seven centuries later the same era came to an end as its castles were pounded into submission by the Chinese invention of gunpowder. The birth and death of Europe’s Middle Ages, you might fancy, came along the Silk Road from the east. These imaginings followed me at