![]() ![]() Fireworks are just chemical reactions.Ī firework requires three key components: an oxidizer, a fuel and a chemical mixture to produce the color. On a darker note, there are also accounts of fireworks being strapped to rats for use in medieval warfare.ģ. The Chinese also took traditional bamboo sparklers and attached them to arrows to rain down on their enemies. The first recorded use of gunpowder weaponry in China dates to 1046 and references a crude gunpowder catapult. It wasn’t long before military engineers used the explosive chemical concoction to their advantage. Stuffing the aforementioned bamboo tubes with gunpowder created a sort of sparkler. This “fire drug” (or huo yao) became an integral part of Chinese cultural celebrations. Supposedly, they had been searching for an elixir for immortality. ![]() Sometime between 600 and 900 C.E., Chinese alchemists accidentally mixed saltpeter (or potassium nitrate) with sulfur and charcoal, inadvertently stumbling upon the crude chemical recipe for gunpowder. The invention of fireworks led to the invention of pyrotechnic weaponry-not the other way around. By some accounts, fireworks were also thought to scare away evil spirits.Ģ. According to Scientific American, Chinese scholars noticed that the noises effectively scared off abnormally large mountain men. Sometimes if left too long over the heat, the wood expanded and even burst, with a bang of course. The Chinese used firecrackers to scare off mountain men.Īs early as 200 B.C., the Chinese were writing on green bamboo stalks and heating it on coals to dry. To pass the time in between rocket launches, here are 14 facts about the history and science of fireworks:ġ. Fireworks have been astounding audiences across the globe for centuries, and if the images above (all submitted by our readers) are any evidence, this year’s displays are sure to be just as spectacular as years past. Like many Independence Days before it, this year’s celebrations will undoubtedly involve some sort of pyrotechnics display. ![]()
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