We usually only watch fireworks on the occasion of the New Year or lavish parties. The reason is that it's quite expensive and you can't afford it. However there is a simple type, you can easily buy and enjoy your own light party at home which is the hand-held fireworks. They look quite simple but when viewed from a chemical perspective, this is a combination of many components.
So in this article, we will learn about hand-held fireworks and interesting things around!
Basic ingredients
In addition to these ingredients, pigments and compounds to inhibit chemical reactions may also be added. Usually, fireworks fuel is coal and sulfur. Simple cannons can use adhesives as fuel. The binder is usually sugar, starch or shellac (this is a plastic secreted by female beetles, on trees in the Indian and Thai forests). The wire that forms the body of electric sparks is usually made of iron, and the component mentioned above is inserted into this wire in the form of a paste in which the wire can be coated.
Potassium nitrate or potassium chloride can be used as an oxidizing agent. Metal is used to create sparks. This portable firework formula is quite simple, you can refer to it. For example, a spark can only include potassium perchlorate, titanium or aluminum and dextrin.
Oxidizer
Oxidizing agents create oxygen to burn the mixture. Oxidizing agents are usually nitrates, chlorates or perchlorates. When heated, these oxidizing compounds decompose and when they do so, regardless of their identity, produce oxygen as one of the products of the decomposition process. The production of gas in the decomposition reaction is also forced to push the bits of burning metal out of sparks. This causes the effect of sparks, as they continue to burn and react with oxygen to produce metal oxides.
Nitrate is made up of metal ions and nitrate ions. Nitrates give up 1/3 of their oxygen to produce nitrite and oxygen. The resulting equation of potassium nitrate looks like this:
2 KNO3 (solid) → 2 KNO2 (solid) + O2 (gas)
Chlorates are made up of a metal ion and chloride ion. Chlorates give up all of their oxygen, causing a more spectacular reaction. However, this also means they are explosives. An example of potassium chloride that gives its oxygen will look like this:
2 KClO3 (solid) → 2 KCl (solid) + 3 O2 (gas)
Perchlorate has more oxygen in them but is less likely to explode as a result of impact than chloride. Potassium perchlorate generates oxygen in this reaction:
KClO4 (solid) → KCl (solid) + 2 O2 (gas)
Reducing agent
Reducing agents are fuels used to burn oxygen produced by oxidizing agents. This combustion produces hot air. Examples of reducing agents are sulfur and charcoal, reacting with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), respectively.
In addition, metal powders used in metal fuels can also affect the color of sparks. Aluminum, magnesium and titanium both give brilliant white sparks; on the other hand, iron creates orange sparks, while ferrotitanium (an iron and titanium alloy) creates spark of gold-gold. If this is not enough color, the optional chemical colors can also be added. They are similar to the color additives used in large fireworks, the salts of various metals can communicate in green, blue and red.
Regulator
Two reducing agents can be combined to accelerate or slow down the reaction. In addition, metal affects the speed of the reaction. Smoother metal powder reacts faster than coarse powder or scales. Other substances, such as cornstarch, can also be added to adjust the reaction.
Adhesives
Adhesive keeps the mixture together. Of course, metal powders and oxidants will be useless if there is no way to bind them together into a paste that can be added to the metal bar to form sparks. For a spark, the common binder is dextrin.
Dextrin is actually the name of a smaller carbohydrate group produced by starch decomposition; It can also act as a fuel, although in quantity used in fireworks, it does not really contribute a lot to fireworks. Water is also required to form a thick paste, although it is clear that the firecrackers must be dried before they can be burned.
Gunpowder
Gunpowder is an important figure in larger fireworks, but it doesn't really play a role in handheld fireworks. However, some of its components, namely coal and sulfur, can grow as supplementary fuel. They act as reducing agents, and burn oxygen produced by oxidizing agents; This may help modify the ignition time of sparks. The temperature of the burner can easily be achieved between 1000-1600-16C, and the use of additional fuel may also have an effect on this.
How it works of handheld fireworks
Let's combine it all together: A spark consists of a chemical mixture molded on a stick or hard wire. These chemicals are often mixed with water to form sludge that can be coated on the wire (by immersion) or poured into a tube. After the mixture is dry, you have a spark. Dust, iron, steel, zinc or magnesium or flakes can be used to create sparkling, sparkling sparks. Metal fragments heat up until they are hot and shining brightly or, at high enough temperatures, are actually burned.
A variety of chemicals can be added to create colors. Fuels and oxidants are balanced, along with other chemicals, so that sparks burn slowly rather than exploding like cannons. When one end of the spark is ignited, it will burn gradually to the other end. In theory, the end of the bar or wire is suitable to support it while burning.
Source: hhlcs-com.cdn.ampproject.org
