How exactly do you get all those dazzling lights in the sky at New Years – or on Cracker Night, and elsewhere in the year?
Fireworks actually take a huge amount of chemistry, maths, and technology to work well – but since they’ve been around for thousands of years, there are plenty of examples of them not working perfectly.
Plus, are fireworks really bad for the environment? Should we be using something else – like mass drone displays?
In this episode of Huh? Science Explained, Cosmos journalist Ellen Phiddian zooms into the science of fireworks.
Huh? Science Explained is a LiSTNR production.
Listen to more episodes of Huh? Science Explained
Originally published by Cosmos as Fireworks! How do they work, and should we keep using them?
Ellen Phiddian
Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University.
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