What makes fireworks blue

The heat of the metal determines the color of the sparks. Potassium helps to oxidize firework mixtures. Potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate, and potassium perchlorate are all important oxidizers. Lithium is a metal that is used to impart a red color to fireworks. Lithium carbonate, in particular, is a common colorant. Magnesium burns a very bright white, so it is used to add white sparks or improve the overall brilliance of a firework. Sodium imparts a gold or yellow color to fireworks, however, the color is often so bright that it frequently masks other, less intense colors.

Fireworks include oxidizers, which are substances that produce oxygen in order for burning to occur. The oxidizers are usually nitrates, chlorates, or perchlorates.

Sometimes the same substance is used to provide oxygen and color. Phosphorus burns spontaneously in air and is also responsible for some glow in the dark effects. It may be a component of a firework's fuel. Strontium salts impart a red color to fireworks. Strontium compounds are also important for stabilizing fireworks mixtures. Titanium metal can be burned as powder or flakes to produce silver sparks.

Zinc is a bluish white metal that is used to create smoke effects for fireworks and other pyrotechnic devices. There are a lot of people working on it. There could be a breakthrough one of these days. Narrator: And even if we never find that brilliant blue, there's still plenty to get excited about on the horizon, like fireworks that burst into different shapes and patterns, even letters.

So maybe one day we could see an American-flag firework for the Fourth of July. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading Every year millions of people gather to view fireworks on the 4th of July. But how exactly do fireworks emit their colors and pops?

Sparkler -- Image Source: Pixabay. There are 2 types of fireworks, the first is called a sparkler and the other is known as a firecracker. Most fireworks that are sold in the United States are of the sparkler variety where they emit showers of colored flames, sparks, noises and other effects.

They are often hand-held and generally safer then a firecracker firework! Firecrackers have been around for hundreds of years. Stars come in all shapes and sizes, but you can imagine a simple star as something like sparkler compound formed into a ball the size of a pea or a dime.

The stars are poured into the tube and then surrounded by black powder. When the fuse burns into the shell, it ignites the bursting charge, causing the shell to explode. The explosion ignites the outside of the stars, which begin to burn with bright showers of sparks. Since the explosion throws the stars in all directions, you get the huge sphere of sparkling light that is so familiar at fireworks displays.

The Chemistry of Fireworks. Incandescenc e is the emission of light caused by high temperature. As a substance heats up it emits colors in different stages starting with infrared, then red, orange, yellow, and white as it becomes increasingly hotter.

The temperature of a firework can be controlled and with different components added such as charcoal, can be manipulated to be a desired color at the proper time. Metals, such as aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, burn very brightly and are useful for increasing the temperature of the firework. Luminescence the emission of light by a substance that has not been heated. To produce luminescence, energy is absorbed by an electron, causing it to become excited, but unstable.

When the electron returns to a lower energy state the energy is released in the form of a photon light. The colors are produced by heating metal salts, such as calcium chloride or sodium nitrate, that emit characteristic colors.

List of colors and elements in Fireworks:.