Shocked by what happens to gunpowder when....

[Spawn-Inc]

you apply 10,000 volts to it

[youtube]XEn27HLoc-0[/youtube]
the first powder was hp38/w231, then some ff black powder and last was some SR4759.

i made the video above because i am repairing a buddies oil furnace which needs a new spark ignition transformer. they convert 120v to 10,000 volts and make a nice big spark to ignite the atomized oil. i remembered there was a video/website that showed someone trying to ignite gun powder and it wouldn't. so i thought i would try it to see what happens. apparently it will ignite with the spark i was using.

here is a link to the site i was talking about above, http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/sparks/sparks.html

 

[john92awd]

Video doesn't seem to work...

 

[Spawn-Inc]

how about now?

failing that, try below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEn27HLoc-0

 

[FLHTCUI]

Works for me at 4 seconds.....
Rob

 

[Spawn-Inc]

meaning it took 4 seconds to play, then played properly?

 

[hometownhero]

Kinda neat. Oh and worked for me

 

[HammerHeade]

Pun in the title intended?

 

[Spawn-Inc]

oh ya lol.

 

[jethunter]

Gee, who would have guessed a big spark could ignite gunpowder?!

 

[juanvaldez]

From what I remember their has always been some sort of debate as to if a static build up could ignite BP. This was to do with using plastics and other such handling and storage containers. I vaguely recall that the resistance to the electrical discharge created insufficient heat to ignite the powder? This may have had to do with graphite coating on the powder or something??
Found it....

"The answer comes from the fact that black powder, and other carbon-containing propellants, are fair conductors of electricity. When a material conducts well, it takes a lot more current to heat it up. This is why the lamp wire stays cool and the filament in your light bulb gets white hot. The same current passes through both, but because the light filament has a much higher resistance to the passage of electric current, most of the heat ends up there rather than in the wire. In the experiment here, the air has a very high resistance, while the powder conducts fairly well. The passage of the spark heats the air white-hot, but the powder stays cool. A very high-current spark (like lightning!) would, of course, heat everything and cause ignition, but this would take much more current than could be provided from a static-like source."