Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1917 — Gun Cotton. [ARTICLE]

Gun Cotton.

Gun cotton may be made as follows: Immerse cotton wool in a holtyne dilute solution of potassium Carbonate, wash with water, and then dry. Then steep for a few minutes in a cold mixture of one part of concentrated ni tric add and three of oil of vitriol, then squeeze, and again place in® a fresh add mixture and leave for 48 hours. Then squeeze and wash for a long time with running water, and finally steep in a solution of potassium carbonate. Gun cotton is Insoluble in water, alcohol, and ether. It takes fire at 300 degrees Fahrenheit burning away rapIdly’but without explosion. When ig; nlted in a confined space or by percussion, It decomposes with violent detonation, the energy of which equals that of five times its weight of gunpowder.«