[Crowcreek]

"gunpowder, which is finely ground carbon mixed with potassium nitrate and sulfur."

That's black powder -- used until about 1900.

Modern gunpowder is made by soaking cellulose - like cotton - in nitric acid to form nitrocellulose.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Modern gunpowder is made by soaking cellulose - like cotton - in nitric acid to form nitrocellulose"

Weelll, its actually a little more complex than that. "Guncotton" which you describe above was discovered in 1838, but modern propellants are a bit more complex. Even those that only contain nitrocellulose are highly processed.

See:

History of Gunpowder