The creation and origins of gunpowder is really what lit off the history of fireworks. As the anecdotal story goes, a common Chinese cook accidentally mixed three common kitchen ingredients (KNO3 - Potassium-Nitrate, Sulfur, and Charcoal), accidentally producing a volatile and explosive mixture that would soon be utilized in Chinese warfare.
Among other useful wartime applications were the creation of exploding bamboo sticks and a "rat missile" of sorts, which would be aimed at enemies on horseback in an attempt to get the riders thrown off.
But it would be a long way from rat missiles to " / And certain stars shot madly from their spheres / " - A Midsummer Night's Dream.
How Are Fireworks Made? The History of Fireworks
But before gunpowder could be transformed into colorful explosions of light and sound, it had to be rescued from the Orient and brought to the modern world, which Marco Polo did some time during the 13th Century. Although some accounts credit the knights of the Crusades with unleashing the "fire-chemical" (huo yao) from the Far East, the evidence here is sketchy at best.
Nevertheless, by 1560 Europeans scientists had gotten hold of the explosive powder and further refined the the mixture into the following ratios, more or less: 75% salt peter, 15% Charcoal, and 10% Sulphur.
This volatile cocktail is still used today, but it still isn't exactly what fireworks are made of. One more innovation needed to be made for gunpowder to make the conversion to fireworks, and credit is given to the Italians and the Germans for using aerial shells along with various slow-burning compounds to create brilliant fountains or erupting color.
The whole of Europe quickly became transfixed on the idea of controlled fire and exploding color, especially the wealthy, for whom grand fireworks displays became synonymous with societal standing. Such grand exhibitions became so popular, in fact, that Queen Elizabeth created the position of "Fire Master of England."
And King James II was so pleased with his personal fireworks display that, during his coronation, he knighted his Fire Master. So enamored with the concept of controlled exploding light was Europe at this time that yellows and oranges (from steel and charcoal) would the only colors developed in fireworks for another 200-plus years.
What Are Fireworks? Chemistry of Fireworks
Other colors would not be added to fireworks until around the 1830s, when Italian chemists started adding trace amounts of metals and salts that burned at high temperatures. These salts created beautiful and exciting new colors, and other additives produced interesting effects, like calcium to deepen colors, titanium to make more sparks, and zinc to create mysterious smoky clouds.
Chemists also found that stontium created red, baium created green, copper made blue, sodium made yellow, and white/gold came from aluminium and magnesim. As the chemistry of fireworks matured, the anatomy changed as well. Pretty soon the question of what are fireworks was answer the the image of a standard make-up (according to PBS Nova on-line).
This make-up consisted of a launch tube (the main container with a charge of gunpowder in the bottom), a main fuse, a lift charge (main source of propulsion), stars (marble-size units containing metal salts and color-producing chemicals), breaks (cardboard sections each containing gunpowder), and spegettes (small time-release fuses loaded in the breaks used to ignite to stars).
Forth (4th) of July and New Year's Eve History of Fireworks
This new science and technology produced a brighter, more vibrant, more colorful and longer-lasting display of color and light. In fact the chemistry of fireworks has gotten so good that how fireworks are made has gotten faster. No more are fireworks available only to nobility; in fact, they seem to be a permanent fixture in any sort of celebration, most notably the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve.
Speaking of light, it travel almost 170 times faster than sound (as any high school science book will tell you). This is why fireworks seem to have a duel impact - first lighting up the sky (caused by burning chemical salts), then, moments later, followed by a booming sound, which is caused by the rapidly expanding gas (produced by igniting the chemicals) bursting through the shell and displacing the air around it very quickly.
What are fireworks?
"The rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea-maid's music."
-- William Shakespeare (1564-1616), A Midsummer Night's Dream
-- Act ii, Sc. 1
Jeremy Perkins - The author has a B.A in Journalism and Writing, an M.A. in Information Technology, and enjoys watercolor painting, sports, coding, hiking, ...
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