The science and art of pyrotechnics is much more than just a way to make fireworks. It is also used in all kinds of explosives, fuses and flares, and dispersal and powering mechanisms. Pyrotechnics has been used in celebrations and military campaigns for as long as 2,500 years, beginning with the Greeks. In general, they produce some combination of heat, light, noise, motion, and smoke when they are ignited. For this reason, people use pyrotechnics for everything from Fourth of July to spacecraft.

Black powder is perhaps the earliest known pyrotechnic. The Chinese discovered it before 1000 A.D. during the Sung Dynasty, using a compound of charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulfur to produce powerful rockets and fireworks. Pyrotechnics came to Europe in the thirteenth century, where they quickly revolutionized warfare with their use as propellants in cannons and rockets, and in 1677, miners applied the science to blasting rock for...