Hello, it's Bryce here, and welcome to another episode of From the Vault, where we dive into the archives and dust off a Squiz Kids classic for your listening pleasure.
And today, I'm excited to have exhumed a fantastic Squiz Kids shortcut on... fireworks.
Because, you know, it's only four days until we ring in a new year and we'll all be looking at colourful explosions in the sky.
But who first invented the fireworks?
What's the science behind them and why do they continue to make us ooh and ah?
It's another cracker of a Squeeze Kids shortcut.
See what I did there?
Which I know you're going to love.
Enjoy.
This is a Squeeze Kids podcast.
Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
They started out as a way to scare mountain men.
They cost Disney $50 million a year to put on.
But if you live in the Northern Territory, you can set them off yourself.
This is your Squiz Kids shortcut to fireworks.
The podcast where we dive into the who, what, when, where, why and how of the big news stories.
I'm Amanda Bower.
And I'm Bryce Corbett.
Bryce, the year is almost over.
Mm-hmm.
And you know what that means?
Me struggling to stay awake until midnight so I can watch the New Year's Eve fireworks.
Oh, yes.
Today, we'll take you through how fireworks work, where you can see some of the biggest and best fireworks in the world, and why Cracker Night is controversial.
Listen carefully.
There's a squeeze at the end.
How?
Bryce, the very first fireworks were invented by accident way back in around 200 BC.
Chinese scholars actually used to write on green bamboo stalks, and then they'd lay them on warm coals to dry.
Right.
But if they left them on the fire too long...
They exploded.
And the first firecrackers were born.
Oh, wow.
Now, you've got to remember that this was a long time before guns came along.
So that bang was really scary.
And, according to Scientific American, the scholars noticed that the noises scared away some threatening men who lived in the mountains.
And over time, the Chinese also believed that the firecrackers scared away bad spirits.
Bamboo eh, who knew?
I always thought that fireworks involved gunpowder though.
Well, they definitely do.
But that didn't start until sometime in the 7th century, when some chinese chemists or alchemists as they were called back then were trying to create a potion for immortality, meaning that if you swallowed the elixir they made, you'd live forever awesome.
The first ingredient they used was something called saltpeter or potassium nitrate, which nowadays we use mostly as a plant fertiliser.
Ingredient number two was charcoal, which does not sound very delicious to drink.
No, not pleasant at all.
And ingredient number three was sulfur, a tasteless brittle, yellow-colored chemical that we now know is one of the most reactive elements on the periodic table, meaning that if you combine sulfur with other chemicals, a reaction is likely to happen.
So, Bryce, in terms of the actual chemistry.
Oh, yeah, I love chemistry.
Gunpowder is really pretty cool.
So individually, potassium nitrate or saltpeter and sulfur and charcoal all burn really well, but each of them has its own strength.
So sulfur ignites at a very low temperature.
So think about matchsticks, which are made with sulfur and you only need a small spark for them to burn.
Charcoal provides a massive amount of fuel.
So if you think about how long a coal barbecue will stay hot for, it'll burn for a long time.
And when potassium nitrate or saltpeter is burned, it releases oxygen, which means the fire will keep burning faster and faster, because fire is fed by oxygen.
So if you add them all together you get a fast, powerful fire which only takes a spark to ignite and kaboom.
Wow.
So the fire is so fast that the gunpowder doesn't just burn, it explodes.
And so I'm guessing with that concoction, the Chinese chemists never did discover the secret to eternal life.
No, but they did invent history's first chemical explosive.
Okay.
They called it huo yao, which means fire drug, and they started stuffing it into those bamboo tubes they were using for firecrackers to make a kind of sparkler.
So gunpowder was used for fireworks first and guns second.
Yep, that's exactly right.
Wow.
It didn't take long for the Chinese military to realise the potential of stuff that goes bang.
They started out by attaching those bamboo sparklers to arrows and raining them down on their enemies.
Ouch.
Whoa.
But today we're just going to focus on the fun use of gunpowder in fireworks.
It was the Italians who took them to the next level.
They introduced colours and ways of launching the firecrackers into the air.
Oh, yeah.
How do you get different colours?
Well, once again, it's all about chemistry.
Basically, you add other elements to the gunpowder to create different effects.
So I'll put a list in your episode notes.
But barium produces green, copper produces blue, strontium for red and something called zirconium burns super brightly and is used in those amazing waterfall fires.
Oh yeah, I look forward every New Year's Eve to watching those waterfalls come off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and elsewhere around Australia.
Now, but where in the world can you see the most impressive fireworks displays, Amanda?
Where?
Bryce, China still makes about 90% of the world's fireworks.
So not surprisingly, they're pretty good at putting on a fireworks show.
I've put a link in your episode notes to an anniversary celebration from Beijing.
That is pretty spectacular.
Since 1922, Australia has actually had its own firework manufacturers.
They were started by an engineer at a steelworks in Newcastle.
He loved the sparks and the colours of metalwork and he decided to follow his passion for fireworks.
Right.
At the beginning he just imported them from England, but they often arrived off the boat a bit soggy and ruined.
So he started making his own.
And when the Harbour Bridge opened in Sydney, his fireworks were used for the celebrations.
Ah, of course.
Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks are some of the best known in the world.
Is New Year's Eve the most common time for fireworks, Amanda?
Yep, it sure is.
So the Guinness Book of Records title for the biggest ever fireworks display was set on New Year's Eve, 2016 in the Philippines, when the Iglesia Ni Cristo, or the Church of Christ, put on a display that lasted for wait for it.
One hour, one minute and 32.35 seconds.
Oh, my goodness.
I'm guessing there must be some pretty amazing video of that.
Well, sadly, no, it's not so hot.
It actually poured with rain the whole way through that display.
You know what does have amazing videos, though?
The New Year's Eve celebrations in Ras Al Khaimah.
Now, that's one of the emirates that makes up the United Arab Emirates.
Ras Al Khaimah holds multiple world records for fireworks, including one for the longest waterfall, which spread out for more than 37 kilometres along the waterfront.
Wow.
And the tallest tower of fireworks that reached more than one kilometre high up into the air.
Wow.
But, Bryce, I want you to guess, who do you think spends the most money on fireworks every year?
Hmm.
Do you want a clue?
Yeah, give me a clue.
All right.
Its slogan is that it's the happiest place on earth.
Oh, that would be our office.
No, our Disneyland, of course.
Now, don't they have fireworks every single night at every single park around the world?
Now you've made me wanting fireworks at our office.
Apparently, Disney forks out more than 50 million a year for fireworks quite a bit more than the stories that my parents told me about saving up their pocket money for cracker night.
Right, of course, Cracker Night.
They still have it, of course, in the Northern Territory and in Tassie, but every other state in Australia has banned people from buying and setting off their own fireworks.
So why, Amanda, is Cracker Night so controversial?
For any Aussie kid in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Cracker Night was about as exciting as your birthday and Christmas.
Yeah.
For one day only in Australia, people were allowed to buy and then set off their own fireworks which, as you can imagine, was extremely fun, but also pretty dangerous.
No, that's true, that's true.
By the late 1980s, Cracker Night was banned by every state and territory other than Tasmania and the Northern Territory, in an attempt to eliminate accidents, injuries and destruction of property.
But every July 1st, which is Territory Day in the Northern Territory, people are allowed to buy fireworks with names like Bad Neighbour, Nuclear Havoc between 9am and 9pm.
And they're only allowed to fire them off between 6 and 11pm.
All right, and I have to ask, do people get hurt?
Yeah, well, a few years ago, Cracker Night led to 27 injuries, 770 triple O calls.
Oh, man.
And 679 grass fires.
What?
Yep.
And in Tasmania, of course, where Cracker Night is held in May, the government has asked people this year to join forces to have a neighbourhood fireworks instead of lots of little individual ones, to minimise the effect on animals and wildlife.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I love fireworks, but my dog hates them.
Oh, yeah.
Louie cringes and hides under the nearest bed.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
Which country makes 90% of the world's fireworks?
Yeah, that's right.
It's China.
Question number two.
Name one of the ingredients of gunpowder and bonus points if you get all three.
Pat yourselves on the back if you got charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate or saltpeter.
Question number three.
What's the name of the day in the Northern Territory and Tasmania when people are allowed to set off their own fireworks?
Yeah, that's right.
It's Cracker Night.
That's all we have time for today.
Thanks for joining us as we explored the who, what, how, where, when and why of fireworks.
Now get out there and have a most excellent Happy New Year.
And to you too, Amanda.
Happy New Year, Squiz Kids and Bryce.
Over and out.
