Fireworks

Poof Inc.

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Fireworks and how they work!

All fireworks use a reaction in the presence of oxygen. It’s a chemical process known as combustion. Black powder is the fuel and it has been around for nearly a thousand years. The fuel is made up of 75 percent potassium nitrate, 15 percent charcoal and 10 percent sulfur. Black powder has three chemical properties. These properties give the fuel its maximum bang: high incandescence, low explosive power, and low heat of ignition. The combustion of a material usually gives of energy in the form of light or heat. Different substances can give off different amounts of heat and light when they burn. Some substances do not generate very much light and some burn at much hotter temperatures than others. The black powder that is used in today’s fireworks burns very brightly; therefore, it is highly incandescent. Black powder is better suited for entertainment than destruction because of its low explosive power. The low ignition point for black powder is about 620 degrees Fahrenheit. It makes fireworks easier to light but a lot less safe than most explosives.

A firework is a very complex object with a lot to it. Sure at first glance it looks easy because all you have to do is light the fuse and watch the beautiful colors in the sky. But, internally there is a lot more to a firework. The firework, itself, is a shell. A firework is a shell that consists of four main parts. The first part is the container. The container is pasted paper and string that has been formed in to a cylinder. Another part is stars. These stars are cubes, cylinders, or spheres of a sparkler composition. There is also a bursting charge. This is a firecracker charge at the center of the shell. Finally, there’s a fuse. The fuse supplies a time delay so the shell explodes at the right altitude and not too soon. The shell is launched from a mortar, a short steel pipe with a lifting charge of black powder that explodes into the pipe to launch the shell. As soon as the lifting charge fires it lights the fuse and the fuse burns until the firework is at the right altitude and then explodes.

There are two different kinds of shells, a simple shell and an outbreak shell. The simple shell consists of a paper tube filled with stars and black powder. The stars are poured into the paper tube and then black powder surrounds the stars. When the fuse burns into the simple shell it ignites the bursting charge. This causes the shell to explode. The explosions ignite the stars and they begin to burn bright showers of sparkles. The explosion throws the stars in all directions and that makes a huge sphere of sparkling light. The other kind of shell, the multibreak shell, is a little more complicated than the simple shell. The multibreak bursts in two or three phases. They contain stars of different colors and chemicals to create brighter and softer lights and more or less sparks. The multibreak shell consists of a shell filled with other shells. Sometimes there can be multiple sections without using additional shells. Each section of the shell is ignited by a different fuse and the bursting of one of the sections will ignite the others. The shells are assembled so that when the first one explodes the others follow in sequence to produce a separate effect.

There are 15 different causes for the way fireworks make their colors. They are:

1. Vibrations and Simple Excitations

2. Incandescence- flames, lamps

3. Vibrations and Rotations- Iodine, water, Blue Gas Flame, ice

4. Gas Excitations- Auroras, some lasers, lightning, and vapor lamps

5. Translations involving Ligand Field Effects

6. Transition metal compounds- azurite malachite, turquoise, etc.

7. Transition metal impurities- emerald, red iron ore, ruby, alexandrite, some tourmalines

8. Transitions between molecular orbital

9. Charge transfer- amethyst, lapis lazuli, blue sapphire, magnetite

10. Organic compounds- some fluorescence and lasers, biological colorants, most dyes

11. Transitions involving energy bands

12. Dispersive refraction, polarization, etc.- rainbows, halos, fire in gems

13. Scattering

14. Interference

15. Diffraction

· In addition to frequency and wavelength, colors have energy units associated with them. Red lights and infrared represent low light, and violet light and ultraviolet light denote high energy.

· Mixed frequencies can produce one perceived final color according to a human’s perception of color. That final color can be achieved by several different combinations of colors.

· Out of the 15 causes for color, electrons are responsible for 14 of them. Most of the colors are usually produced through absorption. They are caused from electrons interacting some wavelengths of light. Electrons in the atomic orbital begin to absorb the light when they become excited. The transition of electrons occurs in the light spectrum.

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The colors in the sky

There are many different substances that can be used to make the color of fireworks. Strontium, Calcium, Carbon, Barium, and Copper are just a few. Each one of theses chemical substances has a different energy level. The higher the energy level, the brighter the substance will burn. Strontium=5, Calcium=4, Carbon=2, Barium=6, and Copper=4. Based on the energy levels of these substances, Barium will burn the brightest of all of them. Each substance also has its own color when it burns. Strontium is red, Calcium is orange, Carbon is gold, Barium is green, and Copper is blue.

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The shapes and sparkles

The shapes and sparkles of the fireworks can be accomplished with iron, aluminum, zinc, steel, or magnesium dust. These substances will create bright, shimmering sparks. When the metal flakes heat up, they become incandescent and shine very brightly. Sometimes if the temperature is high enough, the metal flakes will actually burn. There are a variety of chemicals that could be added to the aluminum, zinc, steel, or magnesium to create beautiful colors with the sparkles. Strontium, lithium, Calcium, Carbon, Sodium, Barium, Copper, Arsenic, and Potassium are just a few of the chemicals that could help make a beautiful firecracker for any occasional fireworks show.

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How to make fireworks using your very own household products:

To start making your very own bottle rocket, you must first make sure you have all of the materials. You will need: a pencil, piece of paper, black powder, hot glue gun, fuse, and a straw. Once you have all of the essentials, you are ready to make your own bottle rocket. First, take the piece of paper and wrap it around the pencil. Once you have wrapped the paper around the pencil, pull the pencil out one of the ends. Close one end up by folding it up and hot gluing it. When one is closed pour black powder into the paper. It should be about 3/4 full. Then, stick a fuse in the powder and close the open end. Cut a straw in half and glue it to the side of the rocket. TAAADDDAAA!!! You have just made your very own bottle rocket. Now, go out and have fun! But remember: "SAFETY FIRST!"

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Click here to make your own fireworks show: http://www.maylin.net/Fireworks.html

“This page is not that of a real company but is for a chemistry assignment for General Chemistry 140 at Monmouth College.”