[Reyna2131]

Hey all, just here for assistance regarding a tattoo I want to get. I was thinking of getting the; if my terminology is correct, “Structural Formula” for Black Powder as a tattoo on my thigh. I’m a history major as well as a firearms enthusiast and historical reenactor and as many may know, black powder is the basis of all modern small arms and artillery. The only problem is that I can’t seem to find a picture of the formula no matter how much I search, which seems odd because I know it to be a rather simple one. To be clear I have secondary education but no real knowledge of chemistry to speak of so if I say something off, please correct me. If I am speaking correctly I am looking for the diagram with hexagons relating to their compounds and the elements that make them up. Any help is greatly appreciated! Have a great day!

[Corribus]

Black powder is a mixture, not a single chemical. Historically it's a mixture of sulfur, carbon (the black part, usually charcoal), and an oxidizer (usually saltpeter, or potassium nitrate). Unfortunately none of those has a particularly interesting chemical structure. Sulfur and carbon are mostly amorphous solids of repeating sulfur and carbon atoms, respectively. And Potassium nitrate has the formula KNO₃.

Other explosives (TNT, e.g.) have more interesting organic structures but they don't really form a constituent of black powder.

[Reyna2131]

Ah... That makes sense. I was convinced that it was a single chemical under that name. Good to know, sorry if that was a very silly question. Moving forward, do you think the three structures, of Sulfer, Carbon, and Potassium nitrate, strung together would create the image I’m looking for? Alternatively, do you know of any chemicals, (such as TNT that you mentioned) that might be more analogous to the theme I’m going for? At this point I’m taking suggestions!

[Borek]

Octanitrocubane, HNIW.

[Enthalpy]

Black powder gets uncommon. More usual as military explosives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMX
And still the basis of dynamite:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroglycerin

[Reyna2131]

I think Nitroglycerin is the direction I want to go. I did a spot of research, I didn’t know nitroglycerin was an ingredient in cordite. I’m a military veteran and I have some hands on experience with cordite. I think that would make a very fitting tattoo. However that leads me to follow on questions.

I looked up the structural formula for nitroglycerin and found some imagines that are to my liking but not in the style I was hoping. I was looking for a diagram with the structure represented with hexagons forming the pattern. Is that an entirely different style of diagram? Is that even applicable to what we’re talking about? I’m not sure if I’m articulating myself well enough due to my lack of chemistry knowledge but what I envision is a strong or formation of hexagons connected by lines that illustrate the structural formula.

Is that making sense to anyone? I’m really not sure if I’m speaking in the correct terms.

[Reyna2131]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Nitroglycerin.svg/220px-Nitroglycerin.svg.png

This is the most common image that I find and I think I’m beginning to understand that the formula either does or doesn’t form the pattern I’m wanting, based on the elements in the compound and their relation to each other. Is that correct?

[Reyna2131]

Everyone, feel free to disregard. I got off my lazy butt and YouTubed a chemistry basics video and answered most of my question. Sorry for the waste of time.