The Hidden Science of Fireworks

I feel like some of the above video was from some of Veritasium's previous videos because they look somewhat familiar to me.

With that being said, the video does a great job explaining what happens in fireworks.

Dr Derek starts with making rudimentary black powder (gunpowder - not the modern, smokeless version as Derek explains at 8:30) starting with the initial recipe from ancient China and moving to a more modern 75/10/15 ratio of carbon/sulfur/charcoal and then to a commercial, modern gunpowder. 

From there, it's onward to testing the effects of container strength on the size of the explosion - first with a simple, cardboard tube then with a reinforced tube. He then brings in a fireworks manufacturer who explains the cardboard, spherical shells of actual fireworks and the method for launching them. 

Then a bit about the methods of triggering the shells - showing black match then the craft-paper-encased quick match - including how to waterproof that trigger and how that trigger moves into the fireworks shell itself and lights the stars to produce the color and flash.

Speaking of the stars, they move into the creation of the different colors due to metallic salts and showing the individual spectra of those elements due to their electron configuration. The expert does then use some methanol to step things up a bit. (Remember kids, don't use methanol...ever.)

And the video wraps up with footage of a drone flying through the fireworks finale. I'll admit...that's pretty cool and should absolutely be watched in high res and expanded size.

The chemistry of pyrotechnics (loooong)

Today you get four long videos about fireworks. The above is an episode of Nova from PBS on the history and chemistry of fireworks. I fully assume that I'll have to refind it eventually because Nova tends to be pretty good about deleting their episodes from YouTube when they're posted whole like this.

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.

How Professional Fireworks Work

Probably twenty years ago I took a week long workshop "Chemistry of Pyrotechnics" at Miami University in the summer. It was a great explanation of the science that goes into creating everything from tiny backyard sparklers all the way up to giant fireworks shells.

The course was taught by people who normally taught science to fireworks makers, and they said that the workshop was their first time teaching the fireworks side to people who already knew the science. That made for a really interesting cross-educational experience.

Coincidentally, it turns out that Ed Escudero and Beth Eddy - both of whom I would later work with through ASM - took the same class.

The above video takes you through more of the mechanics of a large, professionally made pyrotechnics shell than it does the chemistry of pyrotechnics (I'm going to look for that video in a minute), but the mechanics includes a bunch of chemistry from controlling the rate of a reaction to producing the various colors. 

And I just put in a request to get a copy of this textbook from the University of Akron library. Thank you, OhioLink.