Every year, millions of people get together on the Fourth of July to watch the fireworks and gaze at the beautiful colors that light up the night sky. But behind the oohs and aahs, what does it actually take to create a spectacular firework show?
You guessed it. Science.
These multicolored explosions are a carefully designed combination of chemicals, fuses and charges that work together to create a burst of light.
According to Kendon Victor, head pyrotechnician at Fireworks Productions of 蜜柚直播, fireworks are essentially a missile designed to explode in a controlled way. To get the fireworks in the air, pyrotechnicians rely on a chain of explosions.
First, the firework is placed into a mortar tube, which acts as a cannon to shoot the firework up. The pyrotechnician then sparks a fuse that runs from the bottom of the mortar tube to the bottom of the firework, where a lift charge made of charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate is located.
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鈥淭he type of fuse used to shoot fireworks is called quick match, and this quick match fuse burns at 32 feet per second. So, when the pyrotechnician lights the end of it, it burns almost instantaneously,鈥 said Victor.
This spark causes heat and gas to build up within the tube, which creates the initial explosion and sends the firework shell into the sky. The firework shell is typically made up of cardboard or paper designed to hold everything together. Inside, there is a timing fuse, gunpowder and an assortment of explosive pebbles called 鈥渟tars.鈥
As the shell is rising into the sky, the timing fuse is burning within the wall of the firework. Once the fuse reaches the burst charge, or the gunpowder, the device detonates, setting in motion the display you see in the sky. The length of the time fuse is based on altitude, so it will explode only once it reaches a certain height.
Intertwined within the burst charge are stars, which can be anywhere from pea-size to marble-size. The stars are the explosives that form the points of light within a firework and are usually coated with layers of colored metals. Every dot of color that is seen within a firework is created by an individual star.
鈥淪o what you see in the sky are hundreds or thousands, depending on the size of the shell, of little stars or little chemical balls that are burning themselves out and consuming,鈥 said Victor. 鈥淲hen you see them very bright, that鈥檚 when they鈥檙e larger and they just started burning, and as the color and the light fades away, that means that the star has completely burned away and there鈥檚 nothing left.鈥
Fireworks get their color from metal salts that are packed within each star. Different metal compounds produce different colors. For example, copper compounds create blue, barium compounds create green and strontium creates red.
As the only full-time fireworks display company in 蜜柚直播, Victor and his team will be putting on 58 firework shows on the Fourth of July, including 14 in 蜜柚直播. So, when you鈥檙e looking into the sky this Independence Day, know that your favorite Fourth of July pastime is fueled by the power of science.