Plus, 21st century fireworks have something the original Chinese inventors could only dream of: color. In the original versions, which used potassium nitrate as a base of the black powder ...

In contemporary fireworks, the fuel source is called “black powder” and it’s made from charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. It first operates as a “lift powder,” the fuel that ...

Historians believe that fireworks were created by accident when bamboo was tossed into fire. Then, around 800 B.C., an alchemist allegedly mixed sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate in a search ...