Watch a pyrotechnician answer questions about fireworks

Watch a drone flight through a fireworks display

This video explores the history, construction, and preparation of modern fireworks displays, including creating gunpowder from scratch. Experimentation with fireworks underwater is also featured, but they require special materials to prevent water from infiltrating the fireworks shell.

See how fireworks are made and which metals are responsible for different colors.

Visualize the components of fireworks

This article provides animated diagrams depicting how different parts of fireworks function. The elements work together through timed mechanisms to produce desired effects.

Fireworks' chemical composition and internal layout produce their unique displays

The burning of different metal compounds, facilitated by combining fuel with oxidizers, results in explosions of varying colors. The timing and pattern are engineered through the arrangement of pellets and fuses.

Watch a pyromusical display to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”

The same principles behind fireworks also power the types of pyrotechnic displays in some live events. Here, you can see an application of the technology in a pyromusical set to rock band AC/DC’s iconic song, “Thunderstruck.”

The most fireworks launched from a pyrotechnics suit is 642

Frenchman Laurent Nat, a pyrotechnics artist and performer with over 10 years of experience, set the world record on June 13, 2014. The suit, inspired by clothes worn by professional firefighters, is made out of 100% cotton and incorporates stilts to allow fireworks to be fired in all directions.

Explore the chemical compounds found in fireworks

Besides the various salts and metals used to produce fireworks colors, shells are also filled with gunpowder and oxidizers to help fuel and accelerate reactions. Chlorates help strengthen colors, while dextrin, a starch, helps hold mixtures together.

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

Watch over a dozen fireworks effects

Adding pellets of salt to gunpowder within a fireworks shell causes them to explode with different colors, but the type of gunpowder used also has an effect. Finely ground gunpowder burns quickly, producing streaks that swiftly burn out.

Fun family fireworks turn ballistic

The American Pyrotechnics Association estimates that over 10,000 injuries result each year from fireworks, close to three-quarters of which occur around the Fourth of July. This video shows just one rather explosive miscue.

Pyrodrones combine fireworks with millisecond-accurate drone choreography

Drones are outfitted with fireworks and positioned using 3D software to ensure perfect timing and safe spacing during shows. A single GPS error during planning can ruin the show, as happened in 2024 when a drone crashed and injured a spectator due to programming failures.

Variations in rapidly expanding gas and mechanical elements produce fireworks sounds

Chemical compounds designed to vibrate rapidly when ignited produce whistling, screeching sounds, while crackles and pops are created by small star pellets inside the firework, which explode one after another quickly. Fluttering and chirping sounds are produced by spinning elements that rotate rapidly as the firework ascends.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after explosion due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Bright blue fireworks are the most difficult color to create

Copper chloride emits blue light when heated, but breaks down at the temperatures created when fireworks explode. Pyrotechnicians continue to search for an ideal mixture that provides a temperature high enough for copper chloride to shine brightly without being destroyed.

The Ruggieri family of pyrotechnicians innovated on European fireworks displays

The Ruggieri family transformed fireworks from military to theatrical displays by focusing on artistry. Claude Ruggieri's knowledge of chemistry allowed him to produce vivid green fireworks, a first in Europe.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which date back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Watch a cybersecurity expert answers questions about hacking

From firewalls and VPNs to ransomware and viruses, IBM Distinguished Engineer Jeff Crume has seen many changes in cybersecurity during his 40 years of IT experience. In this video, he explores some of the most significant hacking events in history and provides advice on protecting yourself online.

Fireworks contribute to air, water, and soil contamination and disrupt wildlife

Fireworks displays have far-reaching environmental consequences, including acid rain from displays during storms and microplastic pollution in water supplies. Wildlife has also been seen abandoning sites during fireworks and never returning.

China makes 90% of the world's fireworks, with Liuyang as its production capital

Fireworks were invented in China, but their predecessor, the firecracker, was discovered in Liuyang upon burning bamboo. Pyrotechnics have since become part of the city's culture. Liuyang has won many international fireworks display competitions.

Fireworks usage on Independence Day comes from their celebratory use in ancient China

Burning bamboo stalks produces a small explosion that was believed to ward off evil spirits. As knowledge of fireworks, which initially used these stalks, carried over into other cultures, so did their use to promote good luck and celebration.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Fireworks-related ER visits in 2024 increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Beyond burns, fireworks can harm respiratory, auditory, and visual health.

'Silent' fireworks are not entirely noise-free

By using a reduced amount of flash powder—the ingredient responsible for the loud explosions that fireworks make—"silent" fireworks produce displays between 70 and 90 decibels, rather than the approximately 175 decibels heard in professional displays.

Firework-related celebrations include an annual summer celebration in El Salvador, where residents throw kerosene-soaked balls to commemorate a 1658 volcanic eruption.

One Chinese businessman controls 70% of the fireworks entering the US

A warehouse explosion in 2008 forced all pyrotechnic shipments to travel through the Shanghai port under three special permits Ding Yan Zhong was given. Since then, he has established a near-monopoly over the global fireworks distribution chain, with logistics and shipping hubs in China and California. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The "green men" were among the first European pyrotechnicians

In the 1600s, men wore leaf-covered caps when handling fireworks to protect against sparks. Headgear was also worn by those helping to maintain order when leading medieval fireworks processions, often acting like jesters to entertain viewing audiences.

Massachusetts is the only state that bans all nonprofessional fireworks.

By igniting flammable gas in a tube filled with holes and playing music into it, the fire will take the shape of the sound waves, enabling the visualization of audio.

Fire engines are among the most complex vehicles on the road

These vehicles are purpose-built to carry water, foam, hoses, ladders, and lifesaving equipment to a scene in minutes. This animated video pulls apart every system inside a pumper truck, showing exactly how the machinery that fights fires actually works.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024, with most of those deaths involving misuse of the explosives and device malfunctions or misfires.

The surprising science behind Pop Rocks

Have you ever wondered why Pop Rocks makes tiny explosions in your mouth? Well, there's actually pressurized carbon dioxide bubbles trapped within the sugary candy. This 19-second video shows you what Pop Rocks look like under a microscope.

In the early 1900s, Fourth of July celebrations were so dangerous that a reform movement emerged to make them safer.

A 101 on the science and history of meteor showers

Bits of rock, ice, and dust flying through space called meteors burn up in a spectacular display when they hit our atmosphere 60 miles up at an average of 30,000 mph. Some of these are isolated objects, but others are recurring phenomena caused by...

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic images.)

Firework or sparkler burns can have large effects on our hands' range of motion.

Disney Research developed a haptic interface where you can feel a fireworks display

Disney’s “Feeling Fireworks” uses water jets and a latex screen to replicate fireworks for blind individuals. Such technology may also provide inclusive experiences for the deaf community, though as of 2024, there are no plans to implement them in Disney parks.

The basic science of rockets

How do rockets work? What is the science behind a rocket launch? How does a rocket go into space? In this short and simple video, we discuss the science of rocket propulsion and what takes to get these vehicles into orbit.

An Egyptologist answers questions from the internet

Professor of Egyptology and Archaeology Laurel Bestock answers your questions about ancient Egypt from X. What did ancient Egyptians sound like? Why is King Tut so enduringly popular? What ancient Egyptian medicine and tools do we still use in modern times?

A New York fireworks ban necessitated a new way to ring in the New Year

In 1906, the city banned fireworks displays, forcing the Times Square celebration to find a new centerpiece. The Times commissioned Jacob Starr, a Ukrainian immigrant who worked for Strauss Signs, to develop an ornament. He returned with the now-iconic New Year’s ball.

Go behind the scenes at the Macy’s Parade Studio

With dozens of balloons and floats, and thousands of costumes, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade requires year-round planning to pull off. Go behind the scenes with the designers and builders who make the magic happen. See how the floats come together and what makes this annual spectacle a reality.

Take a tour of The Planetary Society headquarters with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Led by Bill Nye, the Hayden Planetarium director examines the LightSail aircraft, observes historical artifacts, such as a Mars meteorite, and explores props from the "Cosmos" TV series, which was hosted by Planetary Society cofounder Carl Sagan.

How fighting wildfires works

Firefighters use sophisticated strategies to control wildfires that sometimes cover thousands of acres. This video breaks down how teams set up fire lines to isolate the fires by cutting down brush and trees around the existing fire, among other...

Learn more about Niagara’s death-defying daredevils

This podcast from the Niagara Falls Daredevil Museum explores 19th‑ and early 20th‑century Niagara daredevils—like tightrope walker Charles Blondin, barrel-stunter Annie Edson Taylor, and Sam Patch—detailing their feats, dangers, and public spectacle.

The first known instance of a fire tornado occurred in 2003

During pyro-tornadogenesis, many processes that create thunderstorms from wildfires, such as rising hot air and steam from evaporated water in forests, fuel the formation of a fire tornado. The increasing rates of wildfires due to climate change are expected to make this phenomenon and other extreme weather more common.

The deadliest fireworks accident in history was Marie-Antoinette's wedding

In 1770, a fireworks display in Paris celebrating the marriage of Marie-Antoinette to the Dauphin, later known as Louis XVI, resulted in as many as 3,000 deaths. Most casualties were caused by trampling from a panicked crowd of thousands rushing away after some fireworks were blown into the spectators.

Explore a gallery of lightning photography taken from the Grand Canyon

In this series, award-winning photographer Adam Schallau accompanies each image with expert advice on how to capture the phenomenon successfully. Initially requiring the shutter to remain open for extended periods, today's technology includes a device called a lightning trigger, which senses incoming lightning and automatically manages the shutter.

Watch every episode of 'Bill Nye the Science Guy'

Each features one scientific topic alongside demonstrations, fake commercials, a song parody with science-themed lyrics, and bloopers. Other segments include conversations with experts, exhibiting experiments that can be done at home, and trips to locations beyond "Nye Laboratories" to highlight real-world applications.

Explore an interactive solar system with 3D visualizations of meteor showers—streams of dust-like debris left behind from comets or asteroids that burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

A history of raising the alarm, from rattles to 911

Because fires spread so quickly, communities around the world have deployed many tactics to raise the alarm to get help. This history from the Museum of Natural History dives into the use of rattles, bells, and brigades to gather help to fight fires, showing just how far we've come since 911 was introduced in 1968.