Serpentine powder

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Serpentine powder is an early type of gunpowder made of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur.

These three ingredients listed above, formed a flammable powder which was used in firearms. In order to make this gunpowder, an appropriate amount of each ingredient was needed. A mixture made up of 75% potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur made what we refer to today as black powder. Black powder was used in many firearms as it was very effective. If the black powder was blended dry, it was called serpentine powder. A while ago, the saltpeter, or potassium nitrate was very impure. Scientists thought that they could increase the effectiveness of the serpentine powder by refining it, but the gun barrels were too weak to safely handle that extra energy^{[citation needed]}. Nowadays, the serpentine powder is only 57% as powerful as pure modern black powder.