Cellulose: Part 2

Cellulose may be very good at storing information, but they can also be very dangerous. It is estimated that 100,000,000,000 tons of cellulose is degraded annually,  and it is not as abundant as one would think.  In the mid-1800s it was found that cellulose, when combined with nitric acid, and when poured into water became a very flammable and explosive white powder. In 1845, a discovery by Friedrich Schönbein helped with the commercialization of this compound of cellulose. Schönbein had been experimenting with sulfuric and nitric acid in his kitchen, he spilled one of the mixtures and used his wife's cotton apron to clean up the mess. He then hung the apron over the stove to let it dry, which, before long, became an explosive apron. Schönbein called this guncotton, or nitrocellulose. He saw the profit in this and establish multiple factories for nitrocellulose. Before long, too many factories exploded from nitrocellulose and he was put out of business. In the late 1860s proper methods were used to clean guncotton. Nitrocellulose was one of the very first explosive molecules made by man,  this can be seen as both good and bad. Either World Peace or Global War could arise from such simple molecules.