DEAR TABBY

DEAR TABBY:  My friend told me that fireworks came about as an accident by a Chinese cook mixing common ingredients together for a dish one night!  Is this true or tale?  Also, could you tell me what other states besides New York ban fireworks?  NO SPARKLE, NEW YORK.

DEAR NO SPARKLE:  You're friend is brighter than the sky at a Fourth of July fireworks display....except for in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Massachusetts (to go ahead and answer your question).  SORRY!

He was right about the Chinese inventing fireworks, and there is a popular story that a chef with the Chinese Army mixed the three ingredients together in a pan and when it started to flame, the cook placed the mixture in a closed bamboo chute and then came an enormous explosion.  You could say this is how fireworks "exploded" into history!  The Chinese called it "huo yao'" (fire chemical).

We do know that fireworks were invented in China about 2,000 years ago by mixing charcoal (15%), sulfur (10%), and saltpeter (75%).  Saltpeter is potassium nitrate, one of the ingredients in the first gunpowder!  Saltpeter is used as a preservative in meats, ice cream, and also in toothpastes for sensitive teeth - check the ingredients in your food and household products!  You can see how this invention was later used as weaponry.

The knowledge of fireworks soon began to spread to the west.  It is "up in the air" whether Marco Polo (on one of his many trips to China) transported this invention to the Middle East, where European Crusaders brought it to England.  That Marco Polo sure got around! 

Credit for developing fireworks into a true art form has to be given to the Italians. They developed aerial shells that launched upward and exploded into a fountain of color.

 For nearly 2,000 years, the only colors fireworks could produce were yellows and oranges.  It was only in the 19th century that reds, greens, and blues could be produced.

Let's look at some of the familiar patterns of fireworks and maybe you can name some of them at a fireworks show.

Spider effect

Palm burst



Kamuro effect

Now I can't decide whether I want to listen to Katy Perry's Firework or Schoolhouse Rock's Fireworks.  Blast it - I'll watch both!