Fireworks Trivia

The 4th of July is this coming Thursday! I bet you didn't know these facts about fireworks!

• 190 million pounds of fireworks are sold in America each year.
• 8 million dollars in damage is incurred annually by fireworks in America.
• $40,000 is the average cost in dollars of a 20-minute professional pyrotechnic display.
• 10,000 Americans are injured by fireworks accidents each year.
• You must be 21 to purchase fireworks in Maine.
• You'll get 6 blows from a cane for smuggling fireworks into Singapore.
• The first use of fireworks in America was by Captain John Smith in 1608.
• The first fireworks were made in China about 2000 years ago.
• Fireworks can be made to burst in shapes like rings or stars by mixing chemicals and oxidizers into marble-size balls and packing them in to the shells.
• Colored fireworks were invented by the Italians in the 1830's.
• Black powder the most common explosive in fireworks, ignites at just over 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
• 90 percent of all fireworks used in the U.S. are imported from China.
• An average professional firework blast lasts around two seconds.
• The Japanese word for firework is literally translated as "fire-flower."
• The largest string of fireworks ever assembled was made in Malaysia. It was 18,777 feet long, used over three million individual fireworks, and exploded for nine hours and 27 minutes.
• Sparklers burn at a toasty 1,200 degrees.
• High aerial shells, the most common type of firework, generally go off about 2,600 feet in the air. Roman candles only travel up to 300 feet before exploding.
• According to recent studies, fireworks are less dangerous than skiing, surfing, rock climbing, scuba diving and fishing.