You cannot easily find stars in the sky of Seoul, but if you are looking for something that twinkles, fireworks are just the thing for you. Last month, in October, Seoul held its annual firework festival in Yeouido. Over a million people came to see the colorful glitters explode over the dark sky and many were breath-taken by the view. This kind of spectacle has been enjoyed for many hundreds of years since its origin in China over a thousand years, when a Chinese monk used a bamboo stick, gunpowder, and fire to scare away ghosts.

So how do fireworks actually work? The same mechanics hold for today’s fireworks as well. In order to create a display of fireworks, you need a shell, explosive, fire, and a canon. The shells contain the explosives which are lit by a fuse. The cannon then take this shell and shoots it into the sky. To make sure that the firework does not explode until it reaches the apex, another type of fuse is also included in the shell—the time delay fuse. The different range of colors is made from different types of chemicals; steel produces yellow, charcoal produces orange, and copper gives off blue. There are many different types of fireworks but the mechanics seems pretty simple. But do not try it at home!