saltpeter

Example Sentences

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Tultepec was one of the first places that began to produce gunpowder in Mexico during the colonial period, because of the town’s abundant supply of saltpeter, a key ingredient.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 9, 2024

He was perhaps the world’s leading expert on the history of mining for saltpeter, a primary ingredient in gunpowder, which in the 19th century was often harvested from caves.

From New York Times • Dec. 16, 2022

The saltpeter kettles, repurposed as garden torches, were filled with fuel and lit, and their light flickered on an array of classical statuary, columns, urns and the like.

From Washington Post • Aug. 17, 2021

Sometime between 600 and 900 CE, a mix of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal — saltpeter, or rudimentary gunpowder — was poured into bamboo or paper tubes.

From Salon • Jul. 13, 2021

By then, the Chinese had observed that a particular mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter, which became known as gunpowder, was especially explosive.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond