[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

[Lessismore]

Christian Friedrich Schönbein (1799-1868)is probably the scientist who most influenced modern society. Not only did his work on nitrocellulose lay the foundation for all modern high-explosives, and hence all modern weapons including the atomic bomb, but it also led to the development of plastics.

[Crowcreek]

" its actually a little more complex than that"

I know, I just didn't want to sound like I was trying to impress anyone with my factoids about progressive propellants . . .