Cannon

A cannon works very similar to how a gun works. A charge is loaded into the cannon (such as gunpowder) and then the cannonball is loaded in on top of the charge. Wadding is placed into the top of the cannon along with the fuse. The fuse is lit which sets the wadding on fire which in turn ignites the charge. The gases from the charge will then quickly expand causing the cannon ball to fly from the end of the cannon. There are concerns about cannon. First, what's the effect of the barrel of cannons? The barrel is the place where the ignition of gun powders took place. The cannon ball which put on top of the charge receive the energy exerted by the chemical reaction of the charge. A barrel will determines whether the effect of the ignition is being sufficiently used. Normally, a longer barrel can increase the initial speed of cannonballs because it lets the cannonball receives the energy exerted by the chemical reaction longer. The second concern is the chamber pressure. Chamber pressure is the pressure exerted within the chamber of a cannon or other firearms when a cartridge is fired in it. Similar to the barrel, the higher the chamber pressure, the higher the initial speed of the cannonball being fired. However, how to increase the chamber pressure or create a cannon with a high chamber pressure? The most simple way to increase the chamber pressure within a already made cannon can be simply adding charges (i.e. gun powder)

After knowing how to increase the pressure in a cannon, how to increase the range of a cannonball that can fly after being fired? There are two factors determine that. One is explained above, by its initial velocity. The second factor is the mass and shape of the cannonball. When the mass decreases, the cannonball can be easier pushed by the force to a longer distance. When the surface area of the cannonball that directly receives the exerted force by the chemical reaction increases, the cannonball can receive more energy. This directly relates to the distance it can fly.