Where Powder Bursts a Bombard; a Note at Table
Query on the greatest impetus of ignited powder in a cannon, with a jotting on wine and water
The page is largely blank, carrying only a few faded red-chalk marks and a passage of brown-ink text at the foot. Leonardo asks where ignited powder exerts its greatest impetus in a bombard, whether in the tail (breech) where it lies or in the barrel, in what part of either, and where the gun will finally burst and why. The block opens with an unfinished line ('If a power moves ...') and includes a stray personal note made at table, that the wine is good but the water is left over.
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Where a bombard receives the greatest impetus of its powder
Leonardo asks where the ignited powder makes the greater impetus in the bombard: in the tail (breech), where the charge sits, or in the barrel, and in which part of the barrel or tail. He further asks where the gun will at last burst, and why, treating the failure of the piece as a question of internal force.
A jotting made at table
Amid the technical query stands an unrelated personal note: the wine is good, but the water is left over, marked 'at table'. The same block begins with an unfinished opening, 'If a power moves ...', broken off before its thought is completed.