OH, SAY CAN YOU SEE?

John Adams seems to have started it all. The founding of our country, the Founding Father wrote to his wife Abigail, "ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore." And thus, he predicted, we would always remember that momentous date in 1776--the second of July.

Adams was off by a couple of days (he was marking the resolution of independence; we celebrate the signing of the Declaration). But regarding the guns, bonfires and illuminations, he was right on target. In typically American fashion, fireworks displays have grown passe by overuse; they embellish everything these days from baseball games to Disney movie openings. Still, there's something irresistible, and irreplaceable, about a July 4 sound-and-light show: "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air..."

As they always have been, fireworks are handcrafted. Computers may trigger the bursts and create complex "choreography," but the basic recipe for many fireworks has remained unchanged for a hundred years: potassium nitrate or perchlorate; sulfur, charcoal or aluminum; plus assorted chemicals to produce varied hues. "With all the space-age advances," says Dave Oppermann, a "play-by-play" commentator, "they're still making fireworks much the way they have for hundreds of years." John Adams would be content--give or take a day or two.