People have just realised they're lighting sparklers wrong

With people celebrating Bonfire Night this evening, some are now realising they may have been lighting their sparklers all wrong for years.

Traditionally, most people light their sprinkler at the top, allowing the flame to burn down towards their fingers. But posts on social media have made people question if they have been doing it wrong all these years.

A TikTok posted by @archie.five tested the different ways of lighting sprinklers, with one being lit from the bottom and the other from the top. In the video a man and a woman take two sparklers and light them both at the same time to see which way is better.

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The woman lights hers from the top, whereas the man lights his from the bottom.

Although both sparklers burned at similar times, the one lit from the top was harder to light and also burned down towards the fingers of the person holding it. The one lit from the bottom caught quickly and the heat travelled up the sparkler towards the top, away from the fingers of the person holding it.

“Yours was so much cooler - it was going away from your fingers, and it was faster,” the woman in the video remarked to the man.

However, some comments on the video disagreed, with some people suggesting sparklers should be lit from the centre so the fire travels both ways at the same time, and others saying they only ever light from the top.

Fire and rescue services across the UK have a number of safety tips when using sparklers, the said: "Sparklers are often thought of as being safe, but they generate heat levels comparable to a welding torch."

They added these helpful sparkler safety guidelines:

• It is recommended that sparklers are not given to under-5s.
• Make sure everyone who handles sparklers wears gloves.
• Sparklers should be held at arm’s length while being lit and only light one at a time.
• Don’t wave sparklers around close to other people
• Never hold a baby in your arms while you’re holding a sparkler.
• When the sparkler has burned out, place it, hot end down, in a bucket of cold water or sand and leave it there for several hours – they stay hot for a long time!