HOW DO FIREWORKS WORK?
Metal salts are packed into a firework as pea to plum sized pellets called stars.
After a firework is ignited, a lift charge propels the firework into the sky while a fuse slowly burns into the interior of the firework shell.
As the fuse reaches the core of the firework, it explodes.
The heat given off by the combustion reaction causes electrons in the metal atoms to be excited to higher energy levels.
Different metals will have a different energy gap between their ground and excited states, leading to the emission of different colours.
John Conkling, a professor of chemistry at Washington College, recently demonstrated the science behind fireworks in a video for the non-profit American Chemical Society.
'Without chemistry, you couldn't have the burning mixtures.
'Without the burning mixtures, you wouldn't have fireworks,' Conkling said.