Why do fireworks make a loud noise?

Question

Fireworks look so pretty but that loud "BANG" after scares the c**p out of me every time. Why does it do that? and Do we hear it a couple seconds later after the firework goes off because of the sound wave?

Answer 1

haha you're a cutie.

they make that noise because they're explosives. explosives make a loud bang when they explode.

you hear and see them slightly after they go off, of course. light and sound do not travel infinitely fast; it takes time for them to travel any distance. of course, since light travels about a million times faster than sound, you see fireworks slightly before you hear them. but the time light takes to travel that distance is very small, it is a very small fraction of a second. the sound may take a noticeable amount of time; like you said, it could be a second or two, or more. it all depends on how far away they are.

this is essentially the same as lightning. usually, lightning is seen well before it's heard. if you count the seconds between seeing and hearing it, and then divide by 5, you have an approximation of the distance you are from the lightning in miles. the same should work for fireworks.

hope this is informative

peace

Answer 2

fireworks make the loud bang because they are packed with black powder(which is the same stuff in gun bullets) so that when they explode they send the colorful stuff into the air. You see the firework before you hear the bang because the speed of sound is far slower than the speed of light so you see it then hear the bang

Answer 3

Fireworks are small explosions that create shock waves that activate your ear drums, the time delay between the explosion and the shock wave wave hitting your ear is determined by the distance of the explosion from your ear.

Answer 4

The bang is actually the explosion causing a disruption in the surrounding air, resulting in a sound wave. The more compressed and more reactive the fuel the larger the disruption and thus the larger the bang.

Yes, the sound wave produced by this disruption reaches the observer later. But generally the observers are close enough for this time difference not to be noticed.