Gunpowder
火药
Gunpowder is considered to be one of the four great inventions of ancient China.
火药是中国古代的“四大发明”之一。
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.
火药的发明与中国古代发达的冶炼技术有密切的关系。在冶炼金属的过程中，人们不断总结经验，逐渐接触和熟悉了许多矿物的性能，积累了丰富的化学知识。从战国时代起，就有人把冶金技术运用到炼制矿物药方面，梦想能炼出长生不老的药来，也有人想从矿物中炼出金银来。虽然没有炼出长生不老的丹药或金银，但是炼丹工匠们在炼丹的过程中发现，硝石、硫磺与含碳物质在一起加热后会发生剧烈的化学反应。在一次次爆炸中，人们逐渐认识到硝石、硫磺、木炭按一定比例配制，将会制成会能爆炸的火药。
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.
火药发明的具体年代已无从查考，但根据资料可以推断，火药发明的时间应在唐代以前。由于这种火药的颜色是黑色的，所以叫做“黑火药”。火药发明后，先是被制成了爆竹和焰火。唐朝末年，火药开始用于军事。最早的火药武器是“飞火”，即火箭。宋、元时期，军事上广泛应用火药，出现了许多火药武器，主要有火箭、火铳、突火枪、火炮等。
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.
公元1225—1248年之间，火药和火药武器经由阿拉伯传到欧洲。因为制造火药的主要原料硝石洁白如雪，所以火药被阿拉伯人称为“中国雪”和“中国盐”。火．药传到欧洲后，被各国用来制造兵器，还在开山、修路、挖河等工程中广泛使用，火药的使用促进了工业革命的到来。