If you’re stuck on a planet by yourself and need to, for example, defend yourself against some alien species, saltpeter is definitely one of the things you want to be able to find and use.

But where does it come from and how did we figure out how to make it? Why is it such a major part of certain national celebrations? Whose idea was that? All these questions and more answered with a hot dog in one hand, a beer in the other, and sparkler in the third.

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