Click a thumbnail picture below to view a larger version.

View Movie

Narrative
A piece of cotton is placed in a flame. It burns slowly. (Cotton is composed of cellulose, a polysaccharide found in plants.) A piece of cotton that has been nitrated to form nitrocellulose flashes immediately and is totally consumed.

Discussion
Cotton is composed of cellulose, a polysaccharide found in plants. Nitrocellulose is made by treating cellulose with nitric acid. This introduces strongly oxidizing nitro groups into the molecule. Having fuel and oxidizer in the same molecule makes the nitrocellulose burn very rapidly.