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44 Comments
- chadsmith729, on 07/03/2009, -2/+18"A mix of strontium salts, lithium salts and other stuff makes red. "
- The site is Live SCIENCE keyword being the science part right? "other stuff" doesn't sound too much like science to me. - Hraes, on 07/03/2009, -2/+14protip, don't eat fireworks
- Strongo, on 07/03/2009, -3/+10I love the idea of exploding rat poison in the air..
- 1633Hz, on 07/04/2009, -0/+7 Slightly inaccurate. Copper II and III give you a mostly green with some blue flame flame even with lots of care, but real blue flames are almost impossible to get in traditional pyrotechnics. As far as I remember, you're much better off with cobalt compounds.
Also, no major manufacturer uses barium compounds in their fireworks these days, not out of any chemical fear, but more so out of cost concerns.
The calcium and sodium part is completely out there. Of course it burns yellowish. So do most period I and II elements. That doesn't mean that those raw elements are good for use in fireworks.
The part about the wax paper is also rather wrong. "Metals in the shell"? I'm not exactly sure why they think metal BBs have any place in fireworks, but no, unless they're talking about metal compound colour-imbued stars or getters, they need to go back to safety 101, sticking bits of metal in a firework is how you get killed.
The part about duplicates is also wrong, wrong, wrong. They do plenty of duplicates, but not because of angles. It's because the patterns are HARD to get, and don't always go off right. See a pretty, globular shell at a show that you saw a neat pattern a few minutes later? That was probably a failed pattern shell. Beyond a certain point, it doesn't even look like the intended pattern and blends into the mix of other shells.
Also, on an unrelated note, if your potassium perchlorate isn't getting used up entirely (In reference to the environmentally safe fireworks which are liable to get people killed in the process), you're doing something wrong.
I have no idea where they got their vaseline reference, but I've never heard it being used before, and "food preservative" could be anything. Not to say that specific section is wrong, but judging by the rest of the article, it may be. Surprisingly, they got the bismuth part entirely, shockingly right and accurate.
Also, the two fuses part might be true for 1.3G (Formerly class B) types of fireworks, but it sounds like a liability in consumer shells (For the few places that allow them), because if one fuse goes off but not the other, you get the shell going off in the tube and sending flying bits of the tube (HDPE for display shows, wrapped cardboard in consumer shells, and don't laugh at cardboard, because it is HARD when bound properly for things like display tubes.) in display fireworks, and itself, or possibly even harming people with individual burning bits of stars and the explosive shock wave, which has happened and been recorded at least once. Typically, shells are set off by a short 'timer' fuse (Referring to the type of fuse, which is typically a very accurate, slow burning, hard to extinguish fuse), set off by the powder charge used to launch the shell in the first place. Of course, with most, if not all consumer shells these days, this is a moot point, with what the charge and the shell being wrapped together.
Well, I've rambled and been pyrotechnic pedantic enough, have a happy July 4th if you're in the US. - Ghostalker, on 07/04/2009, -0/+6"You can see fireworks before you hear them because light travels faster than sound. "
I'm glad they clarified that for everyone. - cawfee, on 07/04/2009, -0/+6Don't tell Fox News!
- Narcism, on 07/03/2009, -1/+6Barium is USED IN rat point != Barium IS rat poison
Zomg Table salt has Chlorine, we're all gonna die! - dustinbolton, on 07/04/2009, -0/+5Um, that wasn't a corndog.
- GriffCo, on 07/04/2009, -0/+4I like to stand with my mouth open and high in the air so I might catch one using my god-given basket.
Hopefully this year I'll get one! Last year someone just shoved a corndog in it :( - RiotHeart, on 07/03/2009, -3/+7Two cups rhubarb, sliced. / Two slash three cups granulated rhubarb. / One tablespoon all-purpose rhubarb. / One teaspoon grated orange rhubarb. / Three tablespoons rhubarb, on fire. / One large rhubarb. / One cross borehole electro-magnetic imaging rhubarb. / Two tablespoons rhubarb juice.
- charlietuna, on 07/04/2009, -0/+4Perchlorate pollution is a widespread and serious problem.
http://tinyurl.com/percholrate-ubiquitous - wlfldy, on 07/04/2009, -0/+3I wonder why that even came to your mind.
- robertisaar, on 07/03/2009, -3/+6these comments suck!
- inactive, on 07/03/2009, -1/+4"I'm extremely interested in science and programming, so I'm going to play in traffic now. Goodbye."
- dnc34, on 07/04/2009, -0/+3http://tinyurl.com/ljfxu9
- cawfee, on 07/04/2009, -0/+2Whoever dugg you down is either a very sheltered person or not sheltered enough.
- Disgod, on 07/04/2009, -0/+2Possibly it's a bunch of proprietary ingredients for each manufacturer. Either that, lazy writing, or a really long list of potential "other stuff".
- inactive, on 07/04/2009, -0/+2I wonder what fireworks filled with human excrement would be like?
- THX8612, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2Um, what is so strange about those chemicals?
- ccdoggy, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2Protip, don't lick fireworks
- chongli, on 07/04/2009, -0/+2Oh no, water has hydrogen in it and so does hydrogen cyanide!
- cowboy86, on 07/04/2009, -2/+3Goto Lowe's and but Spectricide stump remover which is about 90% pure KNO3. Mix it with sugar and you got a smoke bomb, mix it with gas and you better run.
- linagee, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Lithium is not a good thing to be breathing in. I wonder how much lithium dust people breath in during a fireworks display?
- CivicTV, on 08/14/2009, -1/+2Its a lie.
- inactive, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1"even the stuff of rat poison."
oh lawd - linagee, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Protip, don't breath the air around or underneath fireworks
- inactive, on 07/03/2009, -0/+1Photons emitted when excited electrons go back down the shells..
- shawnsonium, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Whoops, too late.
Should I go to the doctor? - 1633Hz, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Now, see, here's our problem. You, so far, at least, can apparently think responsibly, and can at least read before you do. Obviously, "cowboy" up there can't, seeing as he went on about mixing gasoline with oxidizer. Did I say that his little smoke mix was hard to make in general? Not really. It's just not reliable, and I was only using it as an example. The biggest problem, of course, is that it's very hydroscopic by nature, both in the "candy" and powder forms. Really though, people have burned down their houses before doing this, so please don't complain when I say this to dissuade people from doing it in their kitchens. And the only reason I brought up the danger in that way is because I knew that if I didn't, twit there would go into his kitchen and kill himself after I mentioned melting it.
The point here isn't that it's hard to make his little smoke mix. The point is that people like him are the reason it's impossible to get good fireworks, to buy legitimate products at the store, and so on, because they're a danger to both themselves and others. And on that note, you don't give one-liner instructions on a public discussion board for things like this, no matter how simple. It's just irresponsible, possibly even dangerous without a header. More context is required, always. Which I was happy to oblige with. (Also, really, "KNO3"? No context, no saying anything about what it is. Let me guess, you've been to Totse or something equally filled with banana peel smokers? This is my number-one tip for spotting these people, by how they mention various concepts such as chemical formulas. Visitors to sites like that don't seem to understand that the general public has no idea what "KNO3" means and just spout it out as any other word, devoid of superscript.)
It all boils down to responsibility, and "cowboy" is disseminating information potentially dangerous without context and false information, and in a way that highlights that there is no responsibility either in him or between him and the keyboard. - aeschynanthus, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1They aren't potatoes!
- Hraes, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Just got back from the fireworks... wish you'd warned me ahead of time. My mouth tastes like sulfur.
- Disgod, on 07/04/2009, -1/+2Ummm, I've done the stump remover/sugar mix before. It isn't hard. My friends and I managed to create a cloud of smoke which covered several blocks (it was a rather large brick that we used). Just don't cook the damn stuff inside, and in a pan you don't give a damn about. It didn't go out, and burned rather thoroughly with zero intervention after we got the cooled mixture lit. All it took was a bunch of matches stuck into the brick before it had solidified to light it off and keep it going. It made for one hell of a smoke bomb, even melted the asphalt beneath it.
Notes: I don't know the concentration of the stump remover, and we used a simple 1:1 mix. - sirjohnmichalot, on 07/05/2009, -0/+1Completely unnecessary. That is NOT the proper use of lmgtfy.com
- charlietuna, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1hah, good one Diddy.
- Narcism, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1@linagee
Lithium will likely combine with water (lithium hydroxide) which seems relatively harmless: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_hydroxide
You won't usually just find Lithium sitting around, chilling out, especially if it's flying through the moist air... - Disgod, on 07/04/2009, -0/+1Corollary: Don't insert them anywhere either.
- Sil369, on 07/03/2009, -3/+3ingredients for twinkies?
- SquidLips, on 07/04/2009, -1/+1The element in fireworks that concerns me is lead. But not to worry, the friendly beneficent Chinese would never export lead products, especially stuff the kids will be around, to this country.
[Apparently lead is used for a crackling effect. About 7% of fireworks tested have it. So stay upwind.] - prizieforsheezy, on 07/04/2009, -0/+0Now I'll know exactly what I'll be looking at when I dissect my fireworks tomorrow.
- Rudegar, on 07/03/2009, -1/+1of cause gun powder don't bring the colours those "strange" ingredients does we knew that
- 1633Hz, on 07/04/2009, -2/+1"GTFO you damn k3W1." Not only do idiots like you make it impossible to find good stump remover, dusting sulfur, drain cleaner and so on for legitimate uses, but such stupidity is the reason for most firework and chemical bans, even inside the classroom of some silly 8th grader. Also, on the off-chance someone listens to this idiot, no, his gas concoction will barely burn, let alone explode. P.Nitrate and cane sugar is indeed a _traditional_ smoke mix, but it's less cost effective to do this instead of just going to the fireworks stand and BUYING some smoke balls, which are legal in all 50 states of the US.
And now, just to illustrate how much of an IDIOT this one is, here's a debunking: "Spectride", which I _just_ checked the sheet on, is nearly 100% purity, not even close to 90%. The sugar smoke will provide smoke, but it will tend to be pea-soup brown unless prepared with the dangerous melting method. The sugar smoke method is, for all intents and purposes, UNCOLOURABLE. You need a different mix entirely if you want coloured smoke. And on that note, it will burn terribly, unevenly, and go out frequently without the melting method, which involves MELTING the mixture at 235, right below the ignition point which will most likely set your entire kitchen on fire. Not only that, but even sugar-mix isn't that tolerant to the mussing up of ratios. Take something in a form like spectracide and mix it with sugar at the correct ratios is impossible without an accurate mass-balance (instead of measuring it with your eyes) like a beam-balance, which I _KNOW_ a twip like you doesn't have. It'll burn, but badly, unless you went beyond the 10/90 ratio, in which it won't work at all.
To put it simply, if anyone listens to this idiot, not only will they be sorry (because they either burned off half of their body by accident or wasted money), but him and people like him are half the reason you can't get good fireworks or quite a bit of super-market goods these days, let the blame commence. - storstygg, on 07/03/2009, -4/+3golly gee.... so happy to find the remains of them in my yard on July 5
- RicardoWilliams, on 07/03/2009, -6/+3"Different combinations of metals and oxides produce a whole array of sounds."
- 123bucklemyshoe, on 07/03/2009, -13/+2I agree with you. The different sounds happen based on the molecular level of the different oxides and such. I'm going to digg this story I've been searching for a story that will mesh well with my recommendation engine and I think this one will (I'm extremely interested in science and programming). Thanks for the comment.
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