Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1896 — The Power of Cannon. [ARTICLE]

The Power of Cannon.

La Nature contains a short note in which the horse-power of a cannon is calculated. An Italian cannon of 100 tons, with a charge of r>so pounds of powder and a shot weighing about 2,000 pounds, will give an Initial velocity of 523 metres per second; the length of time during which the power acts is less than one-hundredth of a second, from which it follows that the horsepower developed is about 17,000,000. The writer adds that after about 100 shots the cannon Is put out of service, and Its totnl active life is only therefore one second. In large modern cannon the horse-pojver runs as high as 24,000,000. If the writer had carried out these calculation still farther, he would have found that, after all, this 24,000,000 liorsc-power does not represent a large amount of energy, as it would be just sufficient to run thirty-one incandescent lamps for only one day.