As he was working in the kitchen of his home in Basel, he spilled a mixture of nitric acid (HNO3) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) on the kitchen table. The process uses a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid to convert cellulose into nitrocellulose. The yields are about 85%, with losses attributed to complete oxidation of the cellulose to oxalic acid. The explosive applications are diverse and nitrate content is typically higher for propellant applications than for coatings. The principal uses of cellulose nitrate is for the production of lacquers and coatings, explosives, and celluloid. Even on the occasions when nitrate stock did not start a devastating blaze, once flames from other sources spread to large nearby film collections, the resulting combustion greatly intensified the fires and substantially increased the scope of their damage. A serious explosion that July killed almost two dozen workers, resulting in the immediate closure of the plant. The 13th Earl developed a variation on croquet named Captain Moreton's Eglinton Castle croquet, which had small bells on the eight hoops "to ring the changes", two pegs, a double hoop with a bell, and two tunnels for the ball to pass through. In 1832 Henri Braconnot discovered that nitric acid, when combined with starch or wood fibers, would produce a lightweight combustible explosive material, which he named xyloïdine.

The solution was named collodion and was soon used as a dressing for wounds. In the form of collodion it was also a critical component in an early photographic emulsion, the use of which revolutionized photography in the 1860s. In the 20th century it was adapted to automobile lacquer and adhesives. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer invented the wet collodion process as a replacement for albumen in early photographic emulsions, binding light-sensitive silver halides to a glass plate. Nitrocellulose lacquer is spin-coated onto aluminium or glass discs, then a groove is cut with a lathe, to make one-off phonograph records, used as masters for pressing or for play in dance clubs. Later that same month, many more reels and film cans of negatives and prints also burned at Edison Studios in New York City, in the Bronx; then again, on May 13, a fire at Universal Pictures' Colonial Hall "film factory" in Manhattan consumed another extensive collection. The patent rights for the manufacture of guncotton were obtained by John Hall & Son in 1846, and industrial manufacture of the explosive began at a purpose-built factory at Marsh Works in Faversham, Kent, a year later.

Guncotton manufacture ceased for over 15 years until a safer procedure could be developed. In the initial rack in straight pool, fifteen balls are racked in a triangular rack, with the center of the apex ball placed over the foot spot. Some players (most often amateurs) place the balls in numeric order but for the 9 ball; from the top of the triangle down and from left to right, i.e., the 1 on the foot spot, followed by the 2 then 3 in the second row, and so on. Ever wonder how players run the table, what is billiards making shot after shot? Play then continues with the cue ball shot from where it rested and the fifteenth ball from where it rested prior to racking. It is played using a cue stick, one white ball (the cue ball), fifteen red balls and six colours: a yellow (worth two points), green (three points), brown (four points), blue (five points), pink (six points) and black ball (seven points). In both one-pocket and bank pool all fifteen object balls are racked entirely at random, with the center of the apex ball placed directly over the foot spot.

Some other early modern sources refer to pall-mall being played over a large distance (as in golf); however, an image in Strutt's 1801 book shows a croquet-like ground billiards game (balls on the ground, hoop, bats, and peg) being played over a short, garden-sized distance. The table sizes, balls and cues used in both pool and billiards are different. Originally the game was called Billiards and is, of course, still referred to as such by the pros. Billiards Digest. Vol. 30, no. 3. Chicago: Luby Publishing. The balls should be pressed tightly together without gaps, as this allows the best break possible. In some unofficial circles, a scratch on a break is an automatic loss, but this is not common practice in the professional pool world or in most agreed upon informal rules. During the first World War, British authorities were slow to introduce grenades, with soldiers at the front improvising by filling ration tin cans with gun cotton, scrap and a basic fuse.