Chemistry & Colors
This metallic element is responsible for producing the vibrant blue streaks in a firework display.
What is copper?
Historians generally agree that early forms of fireworks were invented in this Asian country during the Song Dynasty.
What is China?
This 2010 pop anthem by Katy Perry encourages listeners to "let your colors burst" and shoot across the sky.
What is "Firework"?
This Southern Hemisphere city is world-famous for its multi-ton midnight fireworks display launched right off its Harbour Bridge and Opera House.
What is Sydney?
Handheld sparklers are often given to kids, but they can dangerously reach temperatures of up to this many degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to melt gold.
What is 2,000 degrees?
To get a deep crimson or bright red color, pyrotechnicians add salts derived from this element, also known for its atomic number 38.
What is strontium?
This famous Italian explorer is credited with bringing gunpowder and fireworks recipes from Asia to Europe in the late 13th century.
Who was Marco Polo?
In The Fellowship of the Ring, this wizard famously lets off a spectacular firework that transforms into a roaring red dragon.
Who is Gandalf?
This major department store hosts the largest and most famous 4th of July fireworks spectacular in the United States over New York City's East River
What are Macy's?
Fireworks rely heavily on this traditional explosive mixture, composed of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate.
What is black powder?
This tree-named firework effect features long-burning trails of gold or silver that droop gently toward the ground.
What is a willow?
Pyrotechnicians from this European country revolutionized the field by inventing aerial shells and figuring out how to add vivid colors in the 1830s.
What is Italy?
"Happily Ever After" and "Wishes" are iconic fireworks spectaculars performed nightly over this Central Florida landmark.
What is Cinderella Castle?
This French-Canadian city hosts "L'International des Feux Loto-Québec," widely considered the most prestigious fireworks competition in the world.
What is Montreal?
This is the heavy, cylindrical tube (usually made of steel, fiberglass, or HDPE) used to safely launch a commercial firework shell into the air.
What is a Mortar
This common element, found abundantly in table salt, is used to produce intense yellow sparks.
What is sodium?
Fireworks are traditionally set off across the UK on November 5th to celebrate the failure of this man’s "Gunpowder Plot" in 1605.
Who was Guy Fawkes?
The line "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" comes from this patriotic American song.
What is "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
In 2012, this California city made global news when a computer glitch caused its entire 18-minute "Big Bay Boom" show to detonate at once in just 15 seconds.
What is San Diego?
This is the standard, highly recognizable green braided water-resistant fuse used to ignite consumer fireworks safely.
What is a Visco fuse?
This specific effect features a shell that shoots outward and then splits into multiple crisscrossing, independent stars.
What is a crossette?
Fireworks were first authorized for the official US Independence Day celebration by Congress in this specific year, one year after the Declaration was signed.
What is 1777?
In the 1993 movie Coneheads, Beldar Conehead gets a job making high-power fireworks and claims he is doing it for this 2-word purpose.
What is "mass consumption"?
This tiny Mediterranean island nation holds the Guinness World Record for the largest single aerial firework shell ever launched, weighing over 1,400 pounds.
What is Malta?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission mandates that consumer fireworks must not exceed this decibel limit at a distance of 150 feet.
What is 125 decibels?