Thread:The Clanden/@comment-5024875-20120824171748/@comment-2081141-20120901012213

I couldn't help but notice this, and I have a couple of things to point out: Firstly, coal doesn't burn fast, it burns hot but relatively slowly. Also, black powder is a composite of multiple materials that simply do not occur together naturally (and if they did in any concentration worth mining, they'd be randomly exploding every so often). Finally, a compressed steam blast would not nearly be sufficient to create enough pressure to crack a cannon. Just a few things to consider.