Fireworks Quiz

Here's a quiz for the Fourth of July.  I've double checked some of these, but not all, so if any of these answers is important, you better check some more sources.  Have a safe, fun holiday.  And be politically active so we can celebrate many more Independence Days

1.    Fireworks originated in (A)--------- some  (B)------- years ago.

A.   1.  Japan    2.  China   3.  Egypt    4.  Greece

B.    1.  700       2.  1000    3.  2000     4.  3000


2.   Firecrackers originated in (A)________  some  (B) ________ years  ago.

A.   1.  Japan    2.  China   3.  Egypt    4.  Greece
B.   1.  700       2.  1000    3.  2000     4.  3000


3,  Which European nation was the first to develop elaborate fireworks displays?

      1.  Germany    2.  Italy    3.  France    4.  England


4.  The first fireworks display in North American colonies took place in

     1.  1608 in Jamestown   2.  1623 in Plymouth    3.  1727  in Boston   4.  1776 in Philadelphia


5.  What's the minimal insurance needed for a fireworks display in Alaska?
      1.   Half a million dollars    2.  $1 million     3.   $5 million     4.  $10 million

6.   To get red,  fireworks makers mix ____________  salts.
       1.  Strontium      2.   Calcium     3.  Sodium    4.  Barium

7.    Total annual fireworks industry revenue was  (A) _________  of which (B) _________ was from consumers (not displays).

(A)  1.  $100 million   2.  $350 million   3.  $725 million   4.  $1 billion

(B)  1.  $30 million   2.  $70 million   3.  $200 million   4.  $ 725 million

8.  Number of annual US injuries per 100 pounds of fireworks used was (A)______ and number of deaths was (B)_____.  (This appears to be for 2015, but I'm not sure.)

(A)  1.  .5       2.   3.5       3.  7.5    4.  10

(B)  1.   1       2.    4         3.  22     5.  63

9.   How do you get the biggest bang for your fireworks bucks?

      1.  buy in May   2.  concentrate on reds   3.  don't buy the finale   4.  go to local display

10.  How hot are three sparklers together?
     
       1.  three times hotter than boiling water   2.  as hot as charcoal to cook a steak   3.  same as a blowtorch     4.  1240˚F


Answers:

"Fireworks originated in China some 2,000 years ago." (From Fireworks University)

"A Chinese monk named Li Tian, who lived near the city of Liu Yang in Hunan Province, is credited with the invention of firecrackers about 1,000 years ago." (From Fireworks University)

"The first European people to make headway in the art of pyrotechny proper appear to have been the Italians. In the book of Artillery by Diego Ufano, written in 1610, he reports that while only very simple fireworks were made in his time in Spain and Flanders, consisting merely of wooden frameworks supporting pots of fire wrapped round with cloth dipped in pitch, more than fifty years earlier magnificent spectacles could be seen in Italy. Vanochio, an Italian, in a work on artillery, dated 1572, attributes to the Florentines and Viennese the honor of being the first to make fireworks on erections of wood, decorated with statues and pictures raised to a great height, some in Florence being seventy-two feet high. He adds that these were illuminated so that they might be seen from a distance, and that the statues threw fire from their mouths and eyes." (From Gizmodo)

"Captain John Smith, governor of the New England col­onies, records in his The Generall Historic of Virginia, New-England that on the evening of July 24, 1608, "... we fired a few rockets, which flying in the ayre so terrified the poore Sal­vages [the Indians], that they supposed nothing unpossible we attempted; and desired to assist us." These firework rockets were brought from England, but beginning in the eighteenth century a native pyrotechnic industry took hold in the new country." (From Gizmodo)

Required. Minimum $1,000,000 for personal injury and death, minimum $500,000 for property damages. (From Fireworks.com)

From Fireworks.com

Annual consumer fireworks revenue $725,000,000.  Total annual fireworks industry revenue (combined display and consumer) $1,060,000,000  (From Statistic Brain)

Number of injuries per 100 lbs of Fireworks used 3.5
Number of deaths in the US annually due to fireworks 4 (From Statistic Brain)

"The tighter the firework is packed, the bigger the boom and higher the burst." (This comes from a post from Penny Pinching Mom that has five points on how to get the best bang for your fireworks bucks.

"A sparkler burns at a temperature over 15 times the boiling point of water. Three sparklers burning together generate the same heat as a blowtorch. When your sparkler goes out, put it in a bucket of water." (From the fireworks firm)