Demonstrations designed to capture the student's imagination
Guncotton is trinitro-cellulose, or cellulose nitrate. The material is used as a propellant and as a blasting explosive. Guncotton burns at a lower temperature than gunpowder - a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate - but produces several times the quantity of gas (comprising CO, CO2, H2 O, N2), leaving almost no residue and little smoke.
A partially nitrated version of guncotton (pyroxylin) can be made easily and relatively safely in the laboratory by adding a nitrating mixture of sulfuric and nitric acids to naturally occurring cellulose - cotton wool. The resulting material suitably demonstrates the explosive nature of nitrated carbon compounds.
Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.
Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.
Get all this, plus much more:
Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.
Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.