The first fireworks were most likely created in China during the tenth century and employed for ceremonial purposes. Dependent on black powder ( gunpowder) for their pyrotechnical displays, fireworks typically consist of a fuel source, an oxidizer, a fuse, and color-producing compounds. The gunpowder itself, a ground-up mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal, is the most important variable and determines the speed, height, and bursting power of the charge. The large-scale manufacture of fireworks is carried on today in a number of countries, including Japan, France, England, Spain, Italy, and the United States. Major fireworks displays are enjoyed the world over and have become requisite centerpieces of such festivals, observances, and holidays as the Fourth of July, New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras and the Chinese New Year. The history of fireworks, a peaceful invention, is intertwined with that of early instruments of war. From the tenth until the...