The chemistry of pyrotechnics (shorts)

After the fireworks video a couple of weeks ago, I went hunting more videos to explain the chemistry of pyrotechnics, and I found a bunch of them.

We'll start this week with the shorter videos.

The one above is the most comprehensive of the short (10 min or less) videos I've found. It explains a bit of history, some of the structure of, the chemical reactions taking place in, and the colors produced in common fireworks.

Start with that one. 

It isn't, however, a very pretty video. It's a lecture with an animated hand writing and drawing on a digital white board. Not the most exciting of the videos.

The above video here actually shows reactions as demonstrated by a Maryland professor who has written a textbook on the chemistry of pyrotechnics. The prof demonstrates the reactions - in a fume hood to be safe - used in many fireworks. He explains how different colors are produced and what the fuels - polymer binders, metal powders - are used for. He also shows a dummy shell and explains how the shells are constructed - and shows us that his chemical department keeps the chemicals behind two locked doors. I appreciate the safety, prof.

The next two videos - the first wordless - show us how the fireworks shells are actually produced. There are, however, captions on screen to explain what's happening in the first video. The second video

The next video focuses narrowly on the colors produced by the fireworks, explaining which are created via incandescence and which via luminescence as well as which metal salts produce which luminescent colors.

Our final video - slightly longer at not quite 14 minutes - starts by explaining the construction of various types of shells and rockets then demonstrates the differences between types of fuse and of black powder.