FUN FIREWORKS FACTS!
What’s a Fourth of July and Independence Day Celebration without fireworks?! The snaps, sizzles, and crackles make us jump and our pets cower under the furniture, while the brilliant nighttime displays elicit “oohs and ahhs” out of the mouths of youngsters and adults alike. Here are a few things you may not know about fireworks:
1) The Chinese used firecrackers to scare off mountain men. According to Scientific American, Chinese scholars noticed that the bursting noises made by green bamboo stalks while being heated on coals as they dried, scared off abnormally large mountain men. And, thus, the firecracker was born. By some accounts, fireworks were also thought to scare away evil spirits.
2) Fireworks require three key components: an oxidizer, a fuel, and a chemical mixture to produce the color. Chemical bonds are broken in the fuel which releases energy that is stored in the bonds. A bit of fire is all that is needed to ignite the chemical reaction.
3) Specific elements of metal produce specific colors because different chemicals burn at different wavelengths of light. Strontium and lithium = deep reds; copper = blue (and blue is the hardest color to make); titanium and magnesium = silver or white; calcium = orange; sodium = yellow; barium = green. Combining chlorine with barium or copper creates neon green and turquoise flames. Fireworks can change colors in mid-air due to the stars, or pellets being coated in multiple metal salts. As each layer is burned off, the next layer is ignited, emitting a different hue.
4) What causes those noises?? Layers of organic salt, such as sodium salicylate, combined with the oxidizer potassium perchlorate burn one at a time. As each layer burns, it slowly releases a gas, creating the whistling sound associated with most firework rockets. Aluminum or iron flakes can create hissing or sizzling sparkles, while titanium powder can create loud blasts.
5) Fireworks have been used from the earliest years of our nation. According to University historian James R. Heintze, on July 4, 1977, Philadelphia put together an elaborate day of festivities – including a 13-cannon display, parade, dinner, toasts, music, musket salutes, “loud huzzas”, and fireworks. Heintze cites from the Virginia Gazette on July 18, 1777:
“The evening was closed with the ringing of bells, and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with thirteen rockets on the commons, and the city was beautifully
Illuminated. Everything was conducted with the greatest order and decorum, and the face of joy and gladness was universal. Thus, may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated
Through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more.”
6) Consumers spend about $662 million on fireworks each year.
7) During the 4th of July, Americans light about 175 million pounds of fireworks, which is equivalent to about 100,000 lightning bolts.
Whether you plan to ‘watch your money go up in smoke’ (literally) or take in one of the local displays, your evening is sure to be DAZZLING!