For my weird question quota…is it possible to substitute anything for charcoal when making black powder? With the aim of ending up with something passably similar enough in power to regular gunpowder.
I’ve heard of other nitrates being used in place of potassium nitrate, but not this. (Surprise, surprise, right? 
)
Can anyone share any expertise on the subject?
Some black powder substitutes like Triple Seven use some sort of sugar in place of the charcoal. The sugar ends up providing carbon for combustion, just like the charcoal does. Not only is it “passably similar” but it’s actually more energetic than traditional black powder. You have to decrease your powder charge by 15 percent when using it.
And the sugar based powders are even more hygroscopic than charcoal based powder.
Anything that acts as a carbon source and is a powder will work. I’ll bet you could make a gun powder with flour, ground polyethylene or dried boogers. You can also replace the oxidant with things like potassium permanganate, although that will significantly change the dynamics. At that point, you pretty much have to start over in terms of formulation since too much might spontaneously ignite and not enough won’t go boom.
The sulfur, as I figure it, is added to lower the activation energy of the detonation. Sulfur is very easy to oxidize, so it will take the first bits of oxygen giving more energy and leaving behind more reactive nitrogen species. That’s a guess though. I think gun powder without sulfur works, but is very difficult to detonate.
Or nondairy creamer.
Yes, I know they’re not making black powder. Hush, it blows up real good.
Black powder is a chemical combination, and a structure. Porous charcoal is used to create a less dense material that can be saturated with the potassium nitrate and sulpher, and exhibit certain combustion characteristics. So depending on the usage, you may not get what you want.
And be careful, you’ll put out your eye with that… wait, that’s BB guns. Be careful or you’ll blow yourself up.
It looks like mythbusters is going to test Captain Kirk’s diamond dust, Gorn-shooting cannon at some point this season.
Wait, I just read my own link and it says charcoal.
Didn’t the episode use diamond dust? Or am I thinking of the novelization? hmmm…
already did it like last year … I remember seeing it as a rerun over the summer
No, a diamond was used as the projectile.
If you use sugar, you don’t need the sulfur. You can also substitute Potassium Chlorate for the KNO3, but it’s more reactive (dangerous). When I was in school, I used to swipe “samples” of various chemicals from the lab, so I’ve tried a lot of different combinations. Sorry, I don’t remember any proportions, it was over 25 years ago.
‘White’ powder consists of a chlorate, a ferrocyanide, and sugar. You’ll forgive me if I fail to give the exact compounds and proportions.
It’s hygroscopic, and will foul nastily.
Caster sugar plus KClO3 (sold as weedkiller in the good ole’ days) was a pretty good combination. Ooooh, the memory of the things that went “bang”… 
PS: Don’t do this at home kids, at least not without a bit of info from someone who has done it before. Things that go “bang” sometimes lead to serious injuries, I know a guy who lost his eye that way :dubious:
My college roommate used to do something like this. He used powdered sugar and SolidOx (a brand of solid welding fuel; IIRC it contained potassium nitrate and/or chlorate). When he was in high school, he blew up the basement of his house mixing up a batch in a blender, using a metal spoon to scrape down the sides of the blender jar.
It was use of the latter which led to the invention of the double barreled snot gun.
From the heart of Hell, I snort at thee!
Well, it’ll clean out the sinus anyway, but I always called the neti-shot.
Those are both very good guesses! Sulphur is the magic ingredient for spark sensitivity, and a small confined gunpowder charge without sulphur won’t fire well unless a strong primer is used. (Strictly you shouldn’t say “detonate” in reference to black powder.) Sulphur-free black powder can be used in percussion-cap weapons but not matchlocks or flintlocks. Incidently, it generates much less smoke.