Fireworks

How do fireworks produce their colors and loud bangs?

Only chemicals are responsible for most of the spectacular effects. To produce the noise and flashes, an oxidizer is reacted with metal such as magnesium or aluminum mixed with sulfur. The resulting reaction produces a brilliant flash, which is due to the aluminum or magnesium burning, and the rapidly expending gases produce a loud report. For a color effect, an element with a colored flame is included. Yellows colors in fireworks are due to sodium; the red color is made by strontium; the green color is made by barium. Although you might think that the chemistry of fireworks is simple, achieving the vivid white flashes and the brilliant colors requires complex combinations of chemicals.