The longer 6–inch gun was not charged with gunpowder, but with the more powerful modern explosive _cordite_ (see Index), of which there was 19·5 lbs., and its projectile weighed 100 lbs. The charges were so adjusted that the shots had the same initial maximum pressure of 20 tons per square inch applied to them. Now the cordite, though much more powerful than gunpowder (that is, a given weight will produce far more gas), is slower in its ignition, continuing longer to supply gas. The maximum pressure, 20 tons in both cases, is suddenly attained by the gunpowder gases, when the shot has hardly moved 6 inches onward, and the pressure declines rapidly as the moving shot leaves more space for the gas; while the cordite gases produce their greatest pressure more gradually at a part where the shot is already about 20 inches on its way, and not only do their highest pressures continue for a greater distance,—but the decline is far less rapid than in the other case. It will be observed by the intersection of the dotted lines, that when the shots in each case have moved about 2 ft. their velocities are equal. They finally leave the muzzles with the velocities marked on the diagram, and if the reader will apply the formula given on page 174 he will obtain their respective energies in _foot-lbs._; but for large amounts like these it is more usual to state the energy in _foot-tons_, which of course will be arrived at by dividing the _foot-lbs._ numbers by 2,240, and these will work out in the one case to 4978·9 ft.-tons, and in the other to 1942·5 ft.-tons. The shot from the long gun will therefore have more than 2½ times the destructive power of the other. [Illustration: FIG. 98.—_Diagram of Velocities and Pressure._ ]