The secret mathematics behind the perfect firework has been revealed - and it's what keeps you safe at a display.
The Maths for Grown Ups blog has stressed a firework much be launched at the correct angle to ensure peoples' safety at Bonfire Night displays.
They start off by explaining a firework as a "shell set in a mortar tube, which rests on the ground".
When this shell is lit, a chemical reaction is sparked and the shell is launched into the air, following a predictable path, before bursting into what has become known as a firework.
Maths for Grown Ups compared this to the act of throwing a ball into the air, with it travelling up at 90 degrees before falling back down at 90 degrees.
The blogger said: “You’ll notice that the ball rises and, once it hits a certain height, starts to fall again.
"If you throw it straight up, it will go higher. If you throw it at an angle, it goes farther out.”
In the physics world, this is known as ‘trajectory’, as the path an object takes when launched into the air will be curved.
The curve is specifically known as ‘parabola’ which is defined as “a form of motion experienced by an object or particle that is projected near the Earth's surface.”
This particular equation, according to Maths For Grown Ups, is said to keep everybody safe, as the firework must be launched at the correct angle.
In the blog, we learn that heavier explosives must have greater force so the velocity can get them to the right height.
“The equations are often quadratic, in other words, their highest exponent is 2.”
The example used is: x2 + 3x – 9 = 0, which is basically the equation behind the most safe firework.
