The modern history of weapons begins with cannons, introduced
to the history of Europe at the battle of Crecy during the hundred
years war. Both Newton and Galileo lived in an age of rapid
improvements in cannons, and were probably affected by the
technology. Galileo used perfectly round metal balls for timing
of acceleration. Newton used the metaphor of a very powerful
cannon
in his explanation of the Earth being orbited by a body under the
influence of a large velocity and the power of gravity. Newton also
had a theory
of projectile penetration into a medium which is in the
Principia. It stated that "that the distance a projectile will
travel through a medium (air, water, etc.) stands in the same ratio to
the length of the projectile as the density of the projectile's
material to the density of the medium." > Detail from Source >
Terminology
Three of our modern terms have their origin in the artillery of
the
middle age. A cannon
was a weapon which was comparatively mobile, it moved with the maneuver
forces. It was loaded from the muzzle end and was bored out to a
single diameter. It was aimed at enemy soldiers or ships (firing
line of sight). They often fired a collection of scrap
metal, rocks, chains etc to kill people or damage wooden ships.
A mortar was, and
still
is,
a
weapon that solves the recoil problem by
directing the recoil into the earth. Early mortars could only be
fired at a 45 degree angle. They altered the powder charge to
control range. The mortar had to be reinvented in its modern form
(an infantry weapon) during WWI by a British engineer named
Stokes. The War Office ignored him for 6 months.
Early howitzers
could be fired at a wider choice of angles. Both weapons were
bored out to two different diameters so that the very heavy
cannon balls did not crush the gunpowder charge (possibly exploding
it). The section that held
the charge was smaller in diameter. > See
Diagram >
These weapons were difficult
to move and traveled with the "siege train" when castles or walled
cities had to be reduced.
Two types of projectiles were known in the armies of Europe by
the 1500s. A solid ball cast to be as round as possible is the
ancestor of all shot,
whereas
a
hollow
projectile
filled with explosive and a fuze is the ancestor of all shell.
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