A Brief History of Fireworks

200 B.C. It starts with a big bang. Bamboo thrown on a fire in China explodes as air expands inside the reeds, and rudimentary firecrackers are born. Locals decide they should be used to scare away evil spirits.

A.D. 600 TO 900 Things get pyrotechnical when a Chinese alchemist combines sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal and sets it on fire. The more oxygen-rich the saltpeter, the bigger the explosion. Soon the Chinese pack powder, rocks, and metal into containers to make weapons.

1295 Marco Polo brings fireworks to Europe from the Orient. (Also: porcelain, jewels, spices, and other less exciting items that don't go boom.)

1400 TO 1500 The Renaissance begets unparalleled advances in art, literature?and fireworks. The Italians launch projectiles and burn powdered metals and charcoal slowly in open tubes to create sparklers. Controlled fires become de rigueur at coronations. Commoners miss out on the fun.

1635 John Bate publishes the four-part book series The Mysteries of Nature and Art. In part two, he outlines how to create flying dragons, along with other fiery spectacles. Among those the book inspires: a young Sir Isaac Newton.

1730s Powder to the people! In England, fireworks shows become public spectacles for everyone to enjoy. Colonists bring them to the Americas, where they set them off on Independence Day 1777 and think, we should do this again next year.

1830s Italian pyrotechnicians add color to fireworks with chlorinated powder and metallic salts (strontium = red, barium = green, copper = blue, sodium = yellow). Using potassium chlorate as an oxidizer makes the hues brighter.

1966 Cherry bombs, first used as weapons during the Civil War, are banned in the U.S. But until his death in 1978, Keith Moon, drummer of the Who, blows off steam?and blows up hotel toilets?with illegal cherry bombs.

1976 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission requires fuses on consumer fireworks to burn for at least 3 seconds but no more than 9. Safety warnings on fireworks labels become protocol.

1999 Disney World launches fireworks with compressed air instead of gunpowder at Epcot's pyrotechnic spectacular IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. Disney is the largest U.S. consumer of fireworks, making its theme parks the "happiest places on earth" for American pyromaniacs.

2008 The Chinese Olympic Committee admits that CGI was used to enhance fireworks footprints that appeared to walk across the sky for TV audiences and fans watching the Beijing stadium's Jumbotron. The New York?based Grucci family, who created the actual display, is not amused.

2010 Pop singer Katy Perry releases the empowering single "Firework," reportedly inspired by this passage (see below) from Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel On the Road.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who... burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/recreation/a-brief-history-of-fireworks-9077285?src=rss

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