The first bullet was made by Smith and Wesson. They patented the 22 rim fire cartridge on August 8th, 1860. Originally, bullets were made of metal, stone, or purpose-made clay balls. But before Smith and Wesson made the 22 rim fire cartridge, bullets were made as sling ammunition for hunting and other various activities. 

These are lead sling bullets from Athens, in 4th century BC. 

Finally, when firearms were developed these stone or metal bullets were placed in front of a propellant charge of gunpowder at the end of a closed tube. From 1500 to 1800 bullets changed very little. They remained small spherical lead "rounds," only changing slightly in diameter. 

Like I discussed in my last blog, I will be adding in either artillery ammo or tank ammo into my Genius Hour. I have decided to add artillery ammo because of it's advancement in technology throughout it's history. 

In this picture, is one of the first kinds of artillery, used in the Civil War. These cannons were highly inaccurate, so they needed a round that could explode but cover a wide range of ground. The evolution of the artillery shell began here during the Civil War. 

Also, the modern day bullet may not seem as impressive as something like artillery, but it has come a long way since it was first produced. 

BULLET EVOLUTION

Since Mr. Reyes, my English teacher, has commented on my blog he brought up a good point. I could do this project on other projectiles such as artillery shells, and ammunition for various military vehicles. I am considering broadening my "horizon" on this project. I will include the evolution of tank ammo or artillery ammo. Including these will help me be able to research more than just bullets. I will have more information and more things to blog about.

This is just a sample of how diverse ammunition is for artillery and tanks. You may not know it by just looking at it but these shells each do different things when fired out of a cannon. No matter how different they may be, they still make a huge "BOOM" when they ignite.

The project plan for my Genius Hour is the evolution of the bullet. 

Growing up in my childhood, I have always been fascinated by the military and all of it's technology and history. With a very specific project like this I had to come up with something not too broad and still something I wanted to learn about. Just by looking looking at this picture you can see that bullets have changed so much throughout time. I wanted to research the history to find how we got to the modern day bullet.