The fireworks' powder had been taken out.

CNN: SHARE THIS

Mr. Weimer of Phantom Fireworks in Youngstown, Ohio, said that his company believes that the quantity of powder in the fireworks wouldn't have been nearly sufficient to produce the Boston blasts.

WSJ: Boston Bombing Suspects Roused by Jihadist Thought

It said gunpowder or powder from fireworks can be used as a substitute for match heads.

CNN: SHARE THIS

It isn't yet known if the powder from fireworks was used in the Boston bombings, and authorities continue to search for any other explosives purchases and possible accomplices who may have provided materials for the bombs, U.S. authorities said.

WSJ: Boston Bombing Suspects Roused by Jihadist Thought

The discovery of fireworks in the backpack is significant because the FBI found that the bombs were believed to contain a "low explosive powder extracted from commercial fireworks, " according to an FBI lab analysis reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ: U.S. Charges Three More in Boston Marathon Case

While watching a movie, the three -- Kadyrbayev, Tazhayakov and Phillipos -- spot a backpack with fireworks that have been opened and emptied of powder.

CNN: SHARE THIS

Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev went to the room, where Kadyrbayev noticed a backpack containing fireworks that had been "opened and emptied of powder, " according to the affidavit.

CNN: 3 more detained in Boston attack

Common uses for black powder include as gunpowder in muzzle-loading guns, as a blasting powder and as a propellant in rockets for fireworks.

CNN: SHARE THIS

He loved chemistry with a passion, and had done so ever since, as a teenager in Poland, he had tipped the powder out of first-world-war artillery shells and made it into fireworks.

ECONOMIST: Leo Sternbach