Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, or Chūnjié in Mandarin, and it usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN, we look at some of the celebration’s customs and the chemistry behind them. Click through to the C&EN site to see the full graphic.
With the Fourth of July and American Independence Day on the horizon, a somehow topical post seemed in order. Having already examined the chemical compounds that give fireworks their colours in a previous graphic, I decided to examine another important firework component here: the first chemical explosive, gunpowder, also commonly referred to as black powder.