Titanium adds sparks and a mighty kaboom. Zinc helps create dreamy smoke clouds. View NOVA Online's interactive periodic table to learn about other elements used in making fireworks. Fireworks Anatomy For fireworks to perform as expected, they need to be rather elaborately engineered. They hold the metal salts and other chemicals and materials that create the colors and patterns.
Breaks are the separate cardboard sections that separate the multiple stages of a shell.
Spegettes are small, time-release fuses loaded into each of the breaks. Changing the amounts of explosives in the fuses will determine the exact second during flight that each break will ignite. A pouch of black powder is loaded into the bottom of the shell. The shell fits snugly inside a launch tube called a mortar, made from plastic or metal, which is usually buried in the ground. A mortar can vary in size from 2 inches to up to 3 feet in diameter, and can weigh up to 700 pounds.