On Sunday (7/04/21), we light up the night sky with an amazing fireworks display. But, while you’re watching all those amazing fireworks, the question may cross your mind: how do they get their colors? Well, it comes down to basic chemistry.

Small pellets, appropriately called “stars”, are the secret to the fireworks’ colorful success. Those stars are filled with different combos of metal salts, with each adding its own distinct bright color to the firework as it explodes.

Different chemical elements correspond with different colors: red comes from strontium carbonate, yellow from sodium nitrate, orange comes from calcium chloride, green from barium chloride, and copper chloride for blue. Purple fireworks are created pretty much like you’d make purple paint (by mixing the red & the blue).

Whenever you light the fuse on the outside of the thick tube of the firework, that flame ignites the internal “lift charge” (a pouch of black powder), which causes the shell containing the stars to spring into the air. As the shell rises, there’s a time-delay fuse that begins to burn inside and, by the time it goes as high as it’s gonna go, the shell bursts & causes the stars inside to color each strand of the bright burst.

According to fireworks experts, red & green are the easiest colors to make, while blue is a tad more difficult. But, if you want your firework to keep its color for the longest amount of time possible, then you should definitely opt to “go for the gold”.

The trick behind everybody’s favorite fireworks, the ones that change color after they explode, is fairly simple: the stars are coated in a variety of those metal salts I mentioned. Once you see the firework’s second color, that means the stars have burned through their outer layer & reached a different metal salt.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

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Snuff, the powdered, snort-able tobacco, has long been a societal fixture in the UK and U.S. (more so back in the day than today). Because of its prevalence, a particular phrase sprung up around the word that still exists to this day. But what does “up to snuff” mean, exactly?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines being “up to snuff” as “knowing, sharp, not easily deceived,” and “up to the required or usual standard.” The connection between pulverized tobacco & being savvy or meeting requirements, however, isn’t exactly clear. One suggestion is that it may originally have had more to do with snuff’s main user demographic: wealthy men “who’d be able to appreciate the quality of snuff & distinguish between examples of different value.”

What we do know is that “up to snuff” had entered the British lexicon by 1807, when it appeared in a London newspaper (the earliest known written mention of the phrase, according to Merriam-Webster). Only fragments of the passage are legible, but in it a man “asked a young lady if she would have a pinch of snuff, and … in the negative, he facetiously observed … I suppose you are up to snuff.”

As far as how the phrase evolved to describe someone/something that meets standards, there’s no clear answer. Though it makes sense that someone considered smart would also be generally regarded as a person of merit.

If you’ve got a Mundane Mystery you’d like to get “up to snuff”, send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

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If you’ve ever slid across your lawn while throwing a ball or frisbee around, you know grass can be unforgiving. It may look harmless, but blades of grass can be abrasive on your skin & cause burning or itching that isn’t too fun. But you don’t have to hit the ground hard, grass can make you itch even if you’re just kicking back on it. You may be trying to take in nature, but nature apparently wants you to relocate elsewhere. Why is grass treat like that? How can something that looks so inviting & harmless be so uncomfortable?

While grass can look & feel soft, it can actually cause micro-abrasions on your skin. The edges of the grass itself may even damage skin, but there’s another factor on their surface. While they’re not visible to the naked eye, blades of grass are covered in tiny hairs known as trichomes that can cause skin irritation. Trichomes help make grass & other plants unappetizing to animals. (Because, when you can’t move, it helps to have other means of defense.) While not generally harmful, the tiny cuts allow sweat to seep into the tissue, which makes for literal salt on your wound that creates a stinging sensation.

Grass is also covered by a decent dose of pollen, both its own & from neighboring plant life. And, if you have pollen allergies, that can produce itching & irritation that can be especially bothersome once those trichomes damage your skin.

Sometimes, though, it isn’t the grass itself but what lives in & on the grass. Mites, fleas, and other bugs can live there, and their bites can cause an allergic reaction.

Fortunately, you can help yourself avoid the itching & burning. Wear pants instead of shorts if you know you’re going to be sitting in or on grass. If pollen is an irritant for you, check the pollen count before spending time outdoors & wash your clothes once you’re inside. Just don’t expect grass to be entirely hospitable to your bare skin. I mean, they are called blades of grass for a reason.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

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