Editing Gunpowder Plot (section)

===Reconstructing the explosion===
[[File:Itv gunpowder plot mike slee.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Viewed from a distance, with a telephoto lens, a large explosion is captured in its early stages. In the foreground, assorted building materials are visible. In the background, a hillside is partially covered by a forest.|A photograph of the explosion, moments after detonation]]

In the 2005 [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] programme ''[[The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding the Legend]]'', a full-size replica of the House of Lords was built and destroyed with barrels of gunpowder, totalling 1 [[tonne]] of explosives. The experiment was conducted on the [[Advantica (UK)|Advantica]]-owned [[RAF Spadeadam|Spadeadam test site]] and demonstrated that the explosion—if the gunpowder had been in good order—would have killed all those in the building.<ref name=Times>{{citation | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article584830.ece | title = Gunpowder plotters get their wish, 400 years on | last = Sherwin | first = Adam | publisher = [[The Times]] | date = 31 October 2005 | access-date = 18 January 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604000218/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article584830.ece | archive-date = 4 June 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref> The power of the explosion was such that of the {{convert|7|ft|adj=on}} deep concrete walls making up the undercroft (replicating how archives suggest the walls of the old House of Lords were constructed), the end wall where the barrels were placed, under the throne, was reduced to rubble, and the adjacent surviving portions of wall were shoved away. A piece of the head of the dummy representing King James, which had been placed on a throne inside the chamber, was found a considerable distance from its initial location. According to the findings of the programme, no one within {{convert|330|ft}} of the blast could have survived, and all of the stained glass windows in [[Westminster Abbey]] would have shattered. The explosion would have been seen from miles away and heard from further still. Even if only half of the gunpowder had gone off—which Fawkes was apparently prepared for—everyone in the House of Lords would have been killed instantly.<ref name=Times/>

The programme also disproved claims that deterioration in the quality of the gunpowder would have prevented the explosion. A portion of deliberately deteriorated gunpowder, of such low quality as to make it unusable in firearms, still created a large explosion. The impact of even deteriorated gunpowder would have been magnified by its containment in wooden barrels. The compression would have created a cannon effect, with the powder first blowing up from the top of the barrel before, a millisecond later, blowing out. Calculations showed that Fawkes, who was skilled in the use of gunpowder, had deployed double the amount needed.<ref>{{citation| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1501865/Guy-Fawkes-had-twice-the-gunpowder-needed.html | title = Guy Fawkes had twice the gunpowder needed | first = Fiona | last = Govan | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 31 October 2005 | accessdate = 18 January 2008 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120523012931/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1501865/Guy-Fawkes-had-twice-the-gunpowder-needed.html | archivedate = 23 May 2012 | url-status = live | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
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