No one knows for certain who invented fireworks or where they were invented. But most people seem to think that fireworks where invented in China. Fireworks are made of gunpowder. Gunpowder can be made by mixing charcoal with the two chemicals called sulfur and saltpeter. These chemicals can be found almost everywhere. Scientists are able to guess how gunpowder was discovered. They think that some Chinese people were out of regular salt. Without regular salt they might have seasoned their food with saltpeter which has a salty taste. Believe it or not there are people in china today who still use saltpeter. Maybe someone spilled some saltpeter into the fire while adding it to their food and realized that it made the fire burn faster.