The Collaborative International Dictionary
Smokeless powder \Smoke"less pow"der\ A high-explosive gunpowder whose explosion produces little, if any, smoke. It is usually based on guncotton.
Wiktionary
n. An explosive, similar to gunpowder, consisting of nitrocellulose mixed with nitroglycerine or nitroguanidine; it burns with very little smoke.
WordNet
n. an explosive (trade name Ballistite) that burns with relatively little smoke; contains pyrocellulose and is used as a propellant [syn: Ballistite]
Wikipedia
Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery that produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the black powder they replaced. The term is unique to the United States and is generally not used in other English-speaking countries, which initially used proprietary names such as " Ballistite" and " Cordite" but gradually shifted to "propellant" as the generic term.
The basis of the term smokeless is that the combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to around 55% solid products (mostly potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, and potassium sulfide) for black powder. Despite its name, smokeless powder is not completely free of smoke; while there may be little noticeable smoke from small-arms ammunition, smoke from artillery fire can be substantial. This article focuses on nitrocellulose formulations, but the term smokeless powder was also used to describe various picrate mixtures with nitrate, chlorate, or dichromate oxidizers during the late 19th century, before the advantages of nitrocellulose became evident.
Since the 14th century gunpowder was not actually a physical " powder," and smokeless powder can be produced only as a pelletized or extruded granular material. Smokeless powder allowed the development of modern semi- and fully automatic firearms and lighter breeches and barrels for artillery. Burnt black powder leaves a thick, heavy fouling that is hygroscopic and causes rusting of the barrel. The fouling left by smokeless powder exhibits none of these properties (though some primer compounds can leave hygroscopic salts that have a similar effect; non-corrosive primer compounds were introduced in the 1920s). This makes an autoloading firearm with many moving parts feasible (which would otherwise jam or seize under heavy black powder fouling).
Smokeless powders are classified as, typically, division 1.3 explosives under the UN Recommendations on the transportation of Dangerous goods – Model Regulations, regional regulations (such as ADR) and national regulations (such the United States' ATF). However, they are used as solid propellants; in normal use, they undergo deflagration rather than detonation.
Usage examples of "smokeless powder".
It was a dirty bomb, made of a paint can packed with smokeless powder and roofing tacks.
Many small-town chemistry teachers could manufacture guncotton, smokeless powder, even primers from basic chemicals, and handloading is an old art.
And no spilling of the secret of making smokeless powder just to see what interesting things it'll stir up, the way you did with black powder.
A man who knew the formula for smokeless powder could revolutionize warfare and end up Emperor of an entire world.
It was a memento of the time an arms assistant got the charge instructions wrong during a car chase gag and used dynamite instead of smokeless powder in rigging the Oldsmobile Pellam was driving.
Pipe bombs, black or smokeless powder, dynamite, match heads in conduit.
The Metfords have ten-shot magazines, which compare favorably with the five-shot magazines for the Mauser and are incomparably superior to your Springfields, which have no magazines and cannot use smokeless powder.
You've shot with those assholes Bagrat runs with, and you know: it comes in one-pound cans anymore, and don't nobody keep that much of the stuff on hand these days, mainly because the fucking shit is dangerous as hell, it don't just burn, like smokeless powder does, it fucking explodes, and even sparks will set it off.
Until we can go to smokeless powder and a semi-auto, this is our best bet, I think.