NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Red, white but rarely blue – the science of fireworks colors, explained

  • Written by Paul E. Smith, Lecture Demonstrator for Chemistry, Purdue University
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices that commonly come in around seven colors.Shahril KHMD/Shutterstock.com

In the earliest days of the United States, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail about the celebration of independence, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires...

Read more: Red, white but rarely blue – the science of fireworks colors, explained

More Articles ...

  1. Will they ever wake up? New study on consciousness after brain injury shows 'maybe'
  2. Why it matters that more athletes are talking about their mental health
  3. Male nonprofit CEOs earn more – but the problem runs deeper than a simple gender pay gap
  4. Men do see the mess – they just aren't judged for it the way women are
  5. It takes years to fully recover from big storms like Sandy
  6. Flying colors: Researcher reveals hidden world through the eyes of butterflies
  7. Al-Qaida is stronger today than it was on 9/11
  8. Russian Twitter propaganda predicted 2016 US election polls
  9. The US economy likely just entered its longest ever expansion – here's who's benefiting in 3 charts
  10. Sugar substitutes: Is one better or worse for diabetes? For weight loss? An expert explains
  11. Florida makes the restoration of voting rights contingent on criminal debt payments
  12. Half a million American minors now live in Mexico
  13. Controlling weeds on playing fields, parks and lawns without herbicides
  14. Liberals and conservatives have wildly different TV-viewing habits – but these 5 shows bring everyone together
  15. How can you tell if another person, animal or thing is conscious? Try these 3 tests
  16. Why the Supreme Court asked for an explanation of the 2020 census citizenship question
  17. Democrats debate the repeal of Section 1325 – what you need to know about the immigration law that criminalizes unauthorized border crossings
  18. Sequencing the genome of newborns in the US: Are we ready?
  19. Fighting words for a New Gilded Age - Democratic candidates are sounding a lot like Teddy Roosevelt
  20. Young LGBT Americans are more politically engaged than the rest of Generation Z
  21. I went on a Voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti
  22. Ack! I need chocolate! The science of PMS food cravings
  23. After Supreme Court decision, gerrymandering fix is up to voters
  24. Supreme Court says gerrymandering fix up to voters, not judges
  25. The Flores settlement: A 1985 case that sets the rules for how government can treat migrant children
  26. Why lead is dangerous, and the damage it does
  27. I've started acknowledging the people who lived on this land first – and you should too
  28. How the Flint water crisis set students back
  29. Should you be tested for HIV? Why June 27 is a good day to do it
  30. Should Southern Baptist women be preachers? A centuries old controversy finds new life
  31. Here's a 1918 role model for Sarah Sanders' successor as White House press secretary
  32. How much power can one image actually have?
  33. A Trump-Xi trade deal would do little to fix the real problems US companies face in China
  34. Trademark scholar says FUCT's victory at Supreme Court is a win for free speech
  35. Visiting national parks could change your thinking about patriotism
  36. Ebola in Uganda, and the dynamics of a new and different outbreak
  37. Gates launches lobbying arm – higher education on agenda
  38. Thousands of recently discovered photographs document life in Uganda during Idi Amin's reign
  39. The guts of an Apple iPhone show exactly what Trump gets wrong about trade
  40. 'Unskilled' immigrants help to ease the pain of dying Americans
  41. Can parks help cities fight crime?
  42. Detecting deepfakes by looking closely reveals a way to protect against them
  43. Accelerating exoplanet discovery using chemical signatures of stars
  44. Facebook's Libra may be quite attractive in developing countries
  45. Accelerating exoplanet discovery using chemical fingerprints of stars
  46. Biodiversity helps coral reefs thrive – and could be part of strategies to save them
  47. Italy’s minimal competition to host the 2026 Winter Olympics
  48. Health care price transparency: Fool's gold, or real money in your pocket?
  49. Amazon, Google and Facebook warrant antitrust scrutiny for many reasons – not just because they're large
  50. We probed Santorini's volcano with sound to learn what's going on beneath the surface