> You are also misunderstanding the chemistry in the passage you quoted.
I’m not. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt we have a miscommunication though.
> Technically speaking, sulfur is an oxidizer in gunpowder, not fuel.
This initial statement makes it sound like you were claiming that the potassium nitrate is not the primary oxidizer in the combustion. It is the potassium nitrate’s role which is the oxidizer and not the fuel.
And yes, sulfur attracts the potassium, and aids in the reaction, but it’s role is also as fuel, which you incorrectly stated it was not.
Again, from wikipedia:
sulfur (S), which, while also serving as a fuel, lowers the temperature required to ignite the mixture, thereby increasing the rate of combustion. [1]
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work.
Sulfur itself can be burned. Potassium nitrate cannot. In fact if you add sulfur to potassium nitrate the sulfur can act as the reducing agent and you’ll get sulfur dioxide.
4KNO3+5S⟶2K2O+5SO2+2N2
To categorize sulfur over the potassium nitrate in the role of oxidizers doesn’t make a lot of sense, which is how I interpreted your initial statement, perhaps wrongly.
Gunpowder (specifically black powder) works in a vacuum because of the potassium nitrate, not because of the sulfur. You can have gunpowder without sulfur, but it’s not going to work without the potassium nitrate.
I’m not. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt we have a miscommunication though.
> Technically speaking, sulfur is an oxidizer in gunpowder, not fuel.
This initial statement makes it sound like you were claiming that the potassium nitrate is not the primary oxidizer in the combustion. It is the potassium nitrate’s role which is the oxidizer and not the fuel.
And yes, sulfur attracts the potassium, and aids in the reaction, but it’s role is also as fuel, which you incorrectly stated it was not.
Again, from wikipedia:
sulfur (S), which, while also serving as a fuel, lowers the temperature required to ignite the mixture, thereby increasing the rate of combustion. [1]
[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder#Components
And Fuel:
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work.
Sulfur itself can be burned. Potassium nitrate cannot. In fact if you add sulfur to potassium nitrate the sulfur can act as the reducing agent and you’ll get sulfur dioxide.
To categorize sulfur over the potassium nitrate in the role of oxidizers doesn’t make a lot of sense, which is how I interpreted your initial statement, perhaps wrongly.Gunpowder (specifically black powder) works in a vacuum because of the potassium nitrate, not because of the sulfur. You can have gunpowder without sulfur, but it’s not going to work without the potassium nitrate.