WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -During the Tang Dynasty, an alchemist mixed 75 parts saltpetre with 14 parts charcoal and 11 parts sulfur, which exploded when it was exposed to an open flame. At first, China used gunpowder simply to scare or surprise their enemies.

Detailed explanation-2: -In Chinese, gunpowder is called huo yao, meaning flaming medicine. Unlike paper and printing, the birth of gunpowder was quite accidental. It was first invented inadvertently by alchemists while attempting to make an elixir of immortality. It was a mixture of sulphur, saltpeter, and charcoal.

Detailed explanation-3: -Gunpowder was invented in China sometime during the first millennium AD. The earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared in 142 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty when the alchemist Wei Boyang, also known as the “father of alchemy", wrote about a substance with gunpowder-like properties.

Detailed explanation-4: -Gunpowder made the construction and destruction of the land easier and cheaper allowing canals, roads and railways to be constructed.