Gunpowder is considered to be one of the four great inventions of ancient China.

The invention of gunpowder had a close relationship with the advanced ancient workmanship of smelting industry. People began to know a lot of chemistry know-ledge about the nature of different mineral materials during the process of smelting operation. With the knowledge,ancient necromancers tried to seek the elixir of immortality fromcertain kinds of ores and fuel. Al-though they failed to get what they were looking for, they dis-covered that an explosive mixture could be produced by combining sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate) in a certain proportion.This mixture finally led to the invention of gunpowder al-though its exact date of invention still remains unknown.

Many historical materials indicate that gunpowder first appeared before the Tang Dynasty.It was called “Black Gunpowder” because irs black in color.It was firsf used to make firecrackers and fireworks. The military appliccrtions of gunpow-der began in the Tang Dynasty. The earliest weapon made from gunpowder was“Flying Fire”, tha. is, rocket.During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the military ap-plications of gunpowder became common and some other weapons like “fire can-non” ,“rocket”, “missile”and “fireball”were introduced.

Between 1225 crnd 1248, gunpowder and the related weapons spread to Eu-rope via Arabia. Since the major raw material of gunpowder niter is as white as snow, Arabians called gunpowder “Chinese Snow” and “Chinese Salt”. After gunpowder spread into Europe, it was not only used in weapons, and also for cut-ting through mountains, constructing roads, and digging rivers. The invention of gunpowder accelerated the coming of the Industrial Revolution.