The Hidden Science of Fireworks

Veratasium in 2050: We made nuclear weapons to explain every aspects of it

Hell yeah! Thanks for letting me fly through the finale!! Biggest Adrenalin rush while flying ever! Felt like I was in Star Trek or something!

Quantum mechanics and fireworks was the most unexpected crossover of all time

Saying that it sounds like rain when the ash falls at a firework ground zero is an understatement. I got the privilege of witnessing a large fireworks display at the closest safe distance, and the falling ash sounded like a heavy rainfall and felt like hail.

This is not a YouTube video... This is a mini high quality film. What an outstanding production level here!. Congrats Derek and V team

Those drone shots were almost as though the drone was flying through the universe and passing around stars, it was so cool

That drone footage through the fireworks made me tear up a bit. It was truly beautiful and a sight to behold. Lovely time to live in :)

My only question is: who picked up bird poop, a yellow rock, and some honey, mixed them together, and decided to burn it?

i haven't actually thought about the amount of effort put into all these videos until now. this one was truly incredible, so were all the other videos! thank y'all so much!

Those drone shots were epic!

How is no one talking about that gorgeous vortex ring at 10:48? I mean LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT BEAST!!! Amazing catch!!!

LOVED this video! Was like Deja Vu! I went through all of this about 5 years ago when I started making my own fireworks and rocket engines! From homemade black powder to r-candy, right down to flying FPV quadcopters through fireworks! My favorite pyrotechnic mix is currently sulfur-zinc flash powder! MUCH easier to make and is non-hydroscopic so easier to store as well! You can also change the deflagration rate! I currently use it to make projectiles for my homemade rocket launcher! Come try it sometime! ;-)

Derek's storytelling is insane right now. From start and end from the same evil spirit's line. Just the perfect way to join multiple footages, different locations and topics woven together as a complete story. To take the explanation parts and seamlessly transitions to practical demonstration, fun, self exploration. From teaching us and being taught and the constant voiceover during it. JUST LOVED IT. this must be my favorite video of yours's in every aspects.

The reason why copper can produce green and blue colors depending on the environment is that copper ions can exist as cuprous (Cu+) and cupric ions (Cu2+). Cuprous ions produce blue flame color, while cupric ions produce a green one in the presence of halide ions. When a flame contains reducing agents in excess (e.g. candle flame or burning alcohol), then the cupric ions get reduced to Cu+, so the flame will turn from green to blue. As the cuprous salts are generally not stable, blue fireworks usually contain Cu2+ salts and the rest of the mixture is made to have a strong reducing environment (fuel excess), so the cuprous ions are formed in situ during the combustion.

That was utterly enthralling and the display and fpv footage gave me goosebumps! Massive props to all involved, and the great sponsor.

11:50 In middle school, my parents allowed my friends and I load artillery shell fireworks during 4th of July.

One of my friends loaded the shell in upsidedown by accident. Instead of the THUMP sound you hear when it gets launched into the air, we heard a little PoP, and saw a foundation of sparks pouring out of the mortar.

I knew right away what had happened 😮 and I yelled, "RRRRUNN!!!"
We all scattered as fast as we could. When it exploded, it felt like a major league pitcher threw a handful of hot sand and rice at your back.

No one got hurt, thank goodness.

It's actually insane to me how you can upload such good quality content this often
Thank you Veritasium and all people involved in this channel

Blue and purple are the hardest colors to achieve due to their temperature needs, which Derek saw first hand trying to use the sprays. As someone who's worked with fireworks for 15+ years now, it's great to see a video like this be spread to the masses.

20:50 idk why but this song makes me feel so grateful to be alive

Those drone shots were absolutely amazing. By far this is one of my favorite videos to date. I love the depth most of these videos get into, and over the years so many videos have been done by others about fireworks that are cool but I feel like this went into details that I've never really seen in others. The specialist did a great job in breaking down the what, the why, and the how portion of things. I knew there is a specific way fireworks are built to get certain looks, but I've never really understood, or fully appreciate those facts.

It would have been awesome to see some firework construction through all of this, but that just me being picky. This was an awesome video, and thank you for putting it all together for me to sit down and enjoy it with my daughter who is just as much of a pyro as her dad. We got the same Kiwi Co box and this made everything that much more fun.