Firearm

A weapon that launches one or more projectiles by rapidly expanding gas produced by burning propellant. Its defining feature is this propellant-driven launch, rather than the projectile’s shape or intended use.

Internal Ballistics: The study of events inside a firearm from propellant ignition until the projectile exits the muzzle. It explains how pressure, projectile motion, and barrel conditions interact during a shot.
Firearm barrel: The tube through which a firearm’s projectile travels after firing. The barrel guides and contains the projectile during its accelerating passage.
Gunpowder: An energetic mixture historically used as a propellant and explosive, first developed in China. Its use as a propellant made early firearms possible.
Air gun: A weapon that launches projectiles using compressed air or another gas rather than burning propellant. Its projectile is gas-driven, but not by propellant combustion as in a firearm.
Gunpowder warfare: Warfare shaped by weapons that use gunpowder or related propellants. Firearms helped reorganize combat around gunpowder weapons.
Propellant: A material that releases gas and energy through rapid combustion or another controlled reaction. Burning propellant supplies the expanding gas that drives a firearm’s projectile.
Firearm chamber: The part of a firearm that holds a cartridge in position for firing. It supports the cartridge while propellant gases build pressure.
Hand cannon: An early portable firearm consisting of a metal barrel ignited by an external flame or hot material. It represents an early form of the gunpowder-powered weapon.
Bow and arrow: A projectile weapon that launches an arrow by releasing energy stored in a bent bow. It launches a projectile mechanically rather than with expanding combustion gases.
Military revolution: A historical debate about changes in European warfare and states between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Firearms feature in accounts of changing armies, fortifications, and military organization.

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