Fireworks are low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices in an outdoor setting. Such displays are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations, though mismanagement can lead to fireworks accidents.
Fireworks take many forms to produce four primary effects: noise, light, smoke, and floating materials (confetti most notably). They may be designed to burn with colored flames and sparks including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and silver. They are generally classified by where they perform, either 'ground' or 'aerial'. Aerial fireworks may have their own propulsion (skyrocket) or be shot into the air by a mortar (aerial shell).
Most fireworks consist of a paper or pasteboard tube or casing filled with the combustible material, often pyrotechnic stars. A number of these tubes or cases may be combined so as to make when kindled, a great variety of sparkling shapes, often variously colored.
A skyrocket is a common form of firework, although the first skyrockets were used in warfare. The aerial shell, however, is the backbone of today's commercial aerial display, and a smaller version for consumer use is known as the festival ball in the United States.
Fireworks were originally invented in China. China remains the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world.
History
The earliest fireworks came from China during the Song dynasty (960–1279).Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Page 186. . Fireworks were used to accompany many festivities.Temple, Robert K.G. (2007). The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention (3rd edition). London: André Deutsch, pp. 256–257. In China, pyrotechnicians were respected for their knowledge of complex techniques in creating fireworks and mounting firework displays.
During the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), people threw bamboo stems into a fire to produce an explosion with a loud sound. In later times, gunpowder packed into small containers was used to mimic the sounds of burning bamboo. Exploding bamboo stems and gunpowder firecrackers were interchangeably known as (爆竹) or (爆竿). During the Song dynasty, people manufactured the first firecrackers comprising tubes made from rolled sheets of paper containing gunpowder and a fuse. They also strung these firecrackers together into large clusters, known as (lit. "whip") or (lit. "whip cannon"), so the firecrackers could be set off one by one in close sequence. By the 12th and possibly the 11th century, the term (爆仗) was used to specifically refer to gunpowder firecrackers. The first known usage of the term was in the Dreams of the Glories of the Eastern Capital (東京夢華錄; about 1148) by Meng Yuanlao.
During the Song dynasty, common folk could purchase fireworks such as firecrackers from market vendors.Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 186. . Grand displays of fireworks were also known to be held. For instance, according to the Dreams of the Glories of the Eastern Capital, a large fireworks display mounted by the military was held to entertain Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125) in 1110.Kelly, Jack (2004). Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. New York: Basic Books, Perseus Books Group, page 2. The (齊東野語; 1264) states that a rocket-propelled firework called a (地老鼠; lit. "earth rat") went off near the Empress Dowager Gong Sheng and startled her during a feast held in her honor by her son Emperor Lizong of Song (r. 1224–1264). This type of firework was one of the earliest examples of rocket propulsion. Around 1280, a Syrian named Hasan al-Rammah wrote of rockets, fireworks, and other incendiaries, using terms that suggested he derived his knowledge from Chinese sources.Kelly, Jack (2004). Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. Basic Books, page 22. .
Colored fireworks were developed from earlier (possibly Han dynasty or soon thereafter) Chinese application of chemical substances to create colored smoke and fire. The Huolongjing (14th century) and Wubeizhi (preface of 1621, printed 1628) describe recipes, several of which used low-nitrate gunpowder, to create military signal smokes with various colors. In the (武備火龍經; Ming, completed after 1628), two formulas appear for firework-like signals, the (三丈菊) and (百丈蓮), that produce silver sparkles in the smoke. In the (火戲略; 1753) by Zhao Xuemin (趙學敏), there are several recipes with low-nitrate gunpowder and other chemical substances to tint flames and smoke. These included, for instance, arsenical sulphide for yellow, copper acetate (verdigris) for green, lead carbonate for lilac-white, and mercurous chloride (calomel) for white. The Chinese pyrotechnics were described by the French author Antoine Caillot (1818): "It is certain that the variety of colours which the Chinese have the secret of giving to flame is the greatest mystery of their fireworks." Similarly, the English geographer Sir John Barrow (ca. 1797) wrote "The diversity of colours indeed with which the Chinese have the secret of cloathing fire seems to be the chief merit of their pyrotechny."
Fireworks were produced in Europe by the 14th century, becoming popular by the 17th century."The Evolution of Fireworks", Smithsonian Science Education Center. ssec.si.edu. Lev Izmailov, ambassador of Peter the Great, once reported from China: "They make such fireworks that no one in Europe has ever seen." In 1758, the Jesuit missionary Pierre Nicolas le Chéron d'Incarville, living in Beijing, wrote about the methods and composition of Chinese fireworks to the Paris Academy of Sciences, which published the account five years later. Amédée-François Frézier published his revised work Traité des feux d'artice pour le spectacle (Treatise on Fireworks) in 1747 (originally 1706).
In 1786, Bertholet discovered that oxidations with potassium chlorate resulted in a violet emission. Subsequent developments revealed that oxidations with the chlorates of barium, strontium, copper, and sodium result in intense emission of bright colors. The isolation of metallic magnesium and aluminium marked another breakthrough as these metals burn with an intense silvery light.
Pyrotechnic compounds
Colors in fireworks are usually generated by pyrotechnic stars—usually just called stars—which produce intense light when ignited. Stars contain four basic types of ingredients. A fuel An oxidizer—a compound that combines with the fuel to produce intense heat Color-producing salts (when the fuel itself is not the colorant) A binder which holds the pellet together.
Some of the more common color-producing compounds are tabulated here. The color of a compound in a firework will be the same as its color in a flame test (shown at right). Not all compounds that produce a colored flame are appropriate for coloring fireworks, however. Ideal colorants will produce a pure, intense color when present in moderate concentration.
The color of sparks is limited to red/orange, yellow/gold and white/silver. This is explained by light emission from an incandescent solid particle in contrast to the element-specific emission from the vapor phase of a flame. Light emitted from a solid particle is defined by black-body radiation. Low boiling metals can form sparks with an intensively colored glowing shell surrounding the basic particle. This is caused by vapor phase combustion of the metal.
ColorMetalExample compounds Red Strontium (intense red) Lithium (medium red) SrCO3 (strontium carbonate) Li2CO3 (lithium carbonate) LiCl (lithium chloride) Orange Calcium CaCl2 (calcium chloride) Yellow Sodium NaNO3 (sodium nitrate) Green Barium BaCl2 (barium chloride) Blue Copper halides CuCl2 (copper(II) chloride), at low temperature Indigo Caesium CsNO3 (caesium nitrate) Violet Potassium Rubidium (violet-red) KNO3 (potassium nitrate) RbNO3 (rubidium nitrate) GoldCharcoal, iron, or lampblack WhiteTitanium, aluminium, or magnesium powders
The brightest stars, often called Mag Stars, are fueled by aluminium. Magnesium is rarely used in the fireworks industry due to its lack of ability to form a protective oxide layer. Often an alloy of both metals called magnalium is used.
Many of the chemicals used in the manufacture of fireworks are non-toxic, while many more have some degree of toxicity, can cause skin sensitivity, or exist in dust form and are thereby inhalation hazards. Still others are poisons if directly ingested or inhaled.
Common elements in pyrotechnics The following table lists the principal elements used in modern pyrotechnics. Some elements are used in their elemental form such as particles of titanium, aluminium, iron, zirconium, and magnesium. These elements burn in the presence of air (O2) or oxidants (perchlorate, chlorate). Most elements in pyrotechnics are in the form of salts.
Symbol Name Fireworks usageAl Aluminium Aluminium metal is used to produce silver and white flames and sparks. It is a common component of sparklers.Ba Barium Barium salts are used to create green colors in fireworks, and it can also help stabilize other volatile elements.CCarbonCarbon is one of the main components of black powder, which is used as a propellent in fireworks. Carbon provides the fuel for a firework. Common forms include carbon black, sugar, or starch.ClChlorineChlorate and perchlorates are common oxidizers.CuCopperCopper compounds produce blue colors.FeIronIron powder is used to produce sparks in sparklers.KPotassiumPotassium nitrate, potassium chlorate, and potassium perchlorate are common oxidizers. The potassium content imparts a faint violet color to the sparks.MgMagnesiumMagnesium metal burns a very bright white, so it is used to add white sparks or improve the overall brilliance of a firework.NaSodiumSodium imparts a gold or yellow color to fireworks; however, the color is often so bright that it frequently masks other, less intense colors. Sodium lamps operate with the same optical emission.OOxygenOxygen is a component of chlorate and perchlorate, common oxidizers.SSulfurSulfur is a component of black powder, and as such, it is found in a propellant/fuel.SrStrontiumStrontium salts impart a red color.TiTitaniumTitanium metal can be burned as powder or flakes to produce silver sparks.ZrZirconiumZirconium, like titanium, burns to produce oxides that emit brightly. It is used in "waterfalls".
Types
Aerial fireworks Aerial fireworks are fireworks that typically have their effects launched mostly upward initially and to a significant height.
Aerial shell
An aerial fireworks shell is a shell that contains pyrotechnic compounds and is shot upwards by a mortar and explodes high in the sky to give out visual effects. Aerial fireworks shells are typically used in public display.
Airbomb
Cake
A cake is a cluster of individual tubes linked by fuse that fires a series of aerial shell effects upward. Tube diameters can range in size from , and a single cake can have more than 1,000 shots. The variety of effects within individual cakes is often such that they defy descriptive titles and are instead given cryptic names such as "Bermuda Triangle", "Pyro Glyphics", "Waco Wakeup", and "Poisonous Spider", to name a few. Others are simply quantities of shells fused together in single-shot tubes.
Fountain Catherine wheel Gerb Iron flower Saxon Tezutsu-hanabi Tubri
Mine