Purdue Professor Explains the Science Behind Fireworks

How do fireworks work? A chemist explains the science behind them

There are hundreds of chemical formulas – or as I like to think of them, pyrotechnic recipes – for fireworks

Purdue Professor Explains the Science Behind Fireworks

Source: Anadolu / Getty WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.–You might have seen fireworks a lot in your life, but do you know the science behind how they function? Marcy Towns is a chemistry professor and the associate dean for the College of Science at Purdue University. She explains what really makes a firework work. Towns says first you have to understand the anatomy of a firework. “So first of all, you have a tube that the charge goes down into, and there…