The history and science of fireworks. Diwali Special !!!

“Uncle, why is this ‘Anaar’ giving red and green color light, why not some other color?”, asked Aadi, my friend Vijay’s 5-year old, who is a bundle of joy and child curiosity. We were celebrating Diwali in our society in Hyderabad as we could not go to our respective hometowns this Diwali. Someone in near vicinity was lighting up an “Anaar”, the flower pot or the fountain cracker, which was emitting stars of red and green color that fascinated Aadi.

Firecrackers are age old tradition across the world. For many, firecrackers are an integral part of Diwali celebration. Let us know a bit more about firecrackers, their history and try to find answer to Aadi’s question.

Firecrackers and their history:

Firecrackers originated in China around 200BC, initial versions of firecrackers were made of a special type of bamboo which will explode on prolonged heating producing a ‘bang’ sound. Firecrackers in Chinese are referred as “baozhu”, literally meaning exploding bamboo. After the use of gunpowder started, the bamboo shape and name ‘exploding bamboo’ was retained. Chinese traditionally used firecrackers to scare the evil spirits off.

Firecrackers are usually made of cardboard, paper or other packing material like threads and cloths to tightly pack the charge, and a fuse to light it. The crackers making loud sound are usually very tightly packed, thus making a louder sound when they explode.

Colored Fireworks and how they create specific colors?

Fireworks that create amazing colored patterns in sky are very popular across countries. Be it the fourth of July in the USA or Diwali in India, the sky becomes a canvas for the masterful artwork. Yes, artwork it is because of the precision and knowledge it takes to create a specific pattern and color in the sky when the fireworks explode.  

Fireworks showing various colors and patterns

But as it is often, there is science backing this art.

The firework has a ‘lift charge’ that when ignited through the fuse takes the firework up in the sky. This is achieved by packing the lift charge in a way that when ignited, it releases hot gas with pressure downwards. As Newton’s third law prevails, the firework goes up in the sky. Once the firework is the sky, the fuse ignites the ‘stars’, the small packets of metal salts. The stars are very precisely aligned to create patterns in the sky. The color however is controlled by the metal salt used, different metals giving different colors. That’s how when the stars explode, we see the gorgeous view in the sky, with finely crafted patterns filled with just the right color at right place.

Below is a list of colors and metal salts that can be used to create those colors.

Color	Metal salts that can create these colors
Orange	Chloride and sulphate salts for calcium
Yellow	Sodium compounds like Sodium Nitrate and Cryolite
Red	Strontium(for bright red) and lithium(for red) carbonates
Gold	Iron and Carbon
Green	Barium salts plus Chlorine(released by a chlorine producing compound)
Blue	Copper salts plus Chlorine(released by a chlorine producing compound)
White and Silver	Burning of white metals like aluminium, magnesium
Purple	Mix of Red(Strontium) and Blue(Copper)

Well, telling Aadi all this science described above would have made no sense. My short answer to him was, “the person who made it, liked red and green, so he made it to give these colors.”. Well, that’s not completely wrong, is it?

Happy Diwali

We at WittyScribble wish you and your family a very happy Diwali. We also urge all our readers to always keep the safety (both immediate and future) in mind and be prudent while celebrating. Festivities are meant to spread happiness and ways to celebrate should not become a means to reduce happiness for the current or future human race.

And as always, thanks for reading.

Ayush!!!