Ever Wonder How Fireworks Got Their Colors?
Who Discovered How to Make Fireworks Colorful?
In the 1830's after the introduction of fireworks in Europe, the Italians came up with the idea of mixing various metals within the gunpowder during The Italian Renaissance.[2]
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Have you ever noticed the colors you see when the sun shines through a prism or a CD? Atoms do the same. Inside every modern firework, there is a very small amount of a few elements packed into the gunpowder, these mainly being metal oxides and metals. When these atoms become heated up, they go from their ground state to a more excited state.
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Any light that is emitted in an atomic spectrum is made up of photons. Photons are very small particles that represent a quantum of light or energy. The energy that the photon holds always corresponds with the frequency of the radiation.[4]
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Energy Levels\When atoms get excited, they rise in energy levels from their ground state. Once the electrons calm down from their excited state, the energy they once had is slowly released in the form of photons. The amount of photons being released determines the wavelength and there for the color you see during the reaction depending on the metal you used.[3] Longer, or low energy wave lengths turn out to be more red, while short, high energy wave lengths correspond with blue/violet.
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Figure 1: Electrons are gaining a specific amount of energy which makes them move to a higher energy level. When electrons lose energy, photons with their corresponding energies emit light.
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