20 firework facts you probably didn’t know!

Fireworks have brought light and colour to our skies for many years. Now, with New Year’s Eve approaching, and the fact Casumo released a ‘spot the sparkler’ image to get us all ready for the firework season, we thought it’d be a great time to bring you 30 firework facts you probably didn’t know.

Are you ready to rocket your firework knowledge to a whole new level?

1. 90% of the world’s fireworks originate from China.
2. The first use of fireworks ever recorded in the UK were used to celebrate King Henry VII’s wedding in 1438.
3. A sparkler burns at a temperature of over 15 times the boiling point of water. Meaning, three sparklers burning together can reach the same heat level as a blowtorch!
4. In 2006, a world record was made when scientist Roy Lowry opened the Plymouth UK Fireworks Championships by setting off 56,000 rockets altogether!
5. A string of firecrackers went off for 22 hours to mark the start of the New Year’s Day celebrations in Hong Kong in 1996.
6. Those who make firecrackers can only wear cotton clothing, as the static electricity from synthetic clothing could set all firecrackers off.
7. Around 175 million pounds worth of fireworks are lit every 4July in America, which is the equivalent of 100,000 lightning bolts!
8. Fireworks led to the invention of gunpowder weaponry.
9. After many centuries of fireworks existence, no-one has found the perfect chemistry to make bright blue fireworks.
10. King James II was so impressed with the fireworks display at his crowning in 1685, he made the person who organised it, a knight.
11. Disneyland actually use compressed air to launch their fireworks, rather than gunpowder.
12. A misfired firework that explodes within the launch tube is known as a ‘flowerpot’. This is due to the misfire resembling a flowerpot.
13. Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York all have a blanket ban on all public access to fireworks.
14. The largest display of fireworks ever recorded was in Norway, on 29 November 2014, when a display that lasted an hour and a half, setting off 540,383 fireworks, was lit in tribute to the Norwegian constitution.
15. Due to air pollution rates, residents of Beijing are limited to their use of fireworks during the Lantern Festival.
16. Fireworks have been shooting up into our skies for over 2,000 years.
17. If you spot a firework that explodes at different stages in the sky, this is known as a ‘multi-break’ shell firework. The best way to picture this is a shell, within a shell, within a shell.
18. The International festival concert held in Edinburgh is the biggest annual firework display in the European area, setting off a million fireworks within an hour.
19. The recorded speed of a rocket firework is 150mph, with the shell shooting as high as 200 meters.
20. In Zurich in 2002, a firework made of chocolate, measuring 3 meters was released on New Year’s Eve.