How Fireworks Work
Chemistry
Board Roll No:
Board Registration No : B
AISSCE
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Contents
Table of Contents
Contents .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Acknowledgment ................................................................................................................................ 5
Aim ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Theory................................................................................................................................................. 9
Pyrotechnics – The Art Of Making Fireworks ............................................................................... 9
History ........................................................................................................................................... 9
How Fireworks work ..................................................................................................................... 9
Classification of Fireworks .......................................................................................................... 13
Requirements .................................................................................................................................... 15
Procedure And Observation .............................................................................................................. 17
Result ................................................................................................................................................ 19
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 21
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Acknowledgment
I gratefully acknowledge the valuable contribution
of my school’s Chemistry Department for giving me
the opportunity to indulge in such an interesting
topic on the chemistry of fireworks. I would also
express my gratitude to my Chemistry teacher for
her guidance and my parents for helping me a lot.
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Aim
To Study How
Fireworks
Work
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Figure 1: The Fireworks Square
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Theory
Pyrotechnics – The Art Of Making Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyro-technic devices used for aesthetic, cultural, and religious
purposes. The fireworks are designed to burn with flames and sparks of many hues and patterns.
The square diagram of Figure 1 presents composition and outcome of fireworks ignition.
History
The first fireworks were invented by the Chinese sometime before 1000 AD. They later adapted
them for military applications, and advanced the technology of making normal fireworks,
including the invention of a crude version of the aerial fireworks we see today. Fireworks reached
Italy during the Renaissance, where it was improved and evolved into an art. The development of
the quick match, colours for use in rockets and flash powder took place in Italy from the 1700s to
the 1850s. A brief history of fireworks is given in Table 1.
Fireworks/Modification Event Inventor/Discoverer Year
First fireworks Chinese Circa 10th century AD
Fire arrows and fire lances Chinese 10th century AD
Modification of gunpowder Chinese 11th century AD
Aerial fireworks Chinese civilian firework makers Around 1200 AD
Firework shells, fountains and wheels Italians Renaissance Period
Quick match Italians Around 1730s
Fireworks in the new world Settlers 1600s
New colours and the usage of Southern Italy 1830s
potassium perchlorate
Flash powder Southern Italy 1830s
How Fireworks work
Fireworks consist of a fuel, an oxidizer, a binder and additives for colours. The most common
oxidiser is potassium nitrate, and the fuel is usually charcoal or sulphur (gun powder ) Gun powder
is very sensitive to sparks and ignites instantly causing fire in fireworks factories and storehouses.
Efforts to replace it with safer alternatives have not been successful so far! The binder can be sugar
or starch, usually dextrin. When mixed, they form a kind of paste, which hardens around anything
coated with it. A sparkler is made by dipping a wire of desired length into the slurry of this mixture.
Table 2 lists various chemicals used in fireworks: as fuels, oxidizers, binders, special effect
initiators and their percentage weight in a standard skyrocket. Rocket fireworks (or skyrockets)
work much in the same way that space rockets do. A skyrocket eonsists of a cylinder
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Figure 2:
Fireworks in Shanghai
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packed with gunpowder and additives for specific colours. On ignition they propel themselves
into the sky and then burst into one or more colours and patterns.
Note : A quick match is a gunpowder-coated string wrapped in paper which acts as a wick.
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Figure 3: Comparision of a
single shell skyrocket and a shell
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Fuels Oxidiser Binders
Aluminium, Potassium nitrate Dextrin
Charcoal, chlorate/perchlorate, Red gum
Dextrin. Barium nitrate/chlorate Synthetic
Magnesium. Ammonium perchlorate. Polymers
Red gum. Strontium nitrate
Sulphur,
Titanium,
Antimony sulphide,
Polyvinyl chloride
Chemicals for special effects
Red flame: strontium nitrate/chlorate Green flame: barium nitrate/chlorate
White flame: magnesium and aluminium Gold sparks: iron filings and charcoal
White sparks: aluminium, magnesium, alunlinium-magnesium alloy and titanium
Whistle effect: potassium benzoate or sodium salicylate, White potassium nitrate or sulphur mix
Coloured smoke: potassium chlorate/sulphate/organic dye mixture
Classification of Fireworks
A) Single-colour Skyrocket : A single-colour skyrocket consists of just a tube filled with
gunpowder, the chemical(s) needed for that particular colour, a delay fuse and a [Link]
to stabilize it while taking off and flying. The propellant is at the bottom and the additives
that burst into stars are packed at the upper part (Figure 3). When the fuse is lit, it burns,
igniting the propellant first and then the additives burst into stars, creating a colourful
display.
B) Multi-Colour Skyrocket : Multi-colour rockets work in stages, just like the now outdated
Saturn-V space rockets used to. In a multistage space rocket, each stage falls away as it
finishes its load of fuel. Similarly, in a multi-colour rocket, each stage contains the
chemicals for a different colour, which explode one after the other. Each segment of
chemicals is separated from the next one by a sheet of cardboard, with the propellant being
packed at the bottom of the rocket. There are many fuses in a multi-colour rocket. When the
wick is lit, a fast-burning fuse ignites the propellant first, Which subsequently propels the
rocket high into the atmosphere. A slower, delay fuse then ignites the colour-stages in
sequence,with the topmost one bursting first, followedby one or more colours exploding
one after another in the sky (Figure 4). Table 3 gives a summary of some chemicals used for
generating different colours in a multi-colour rocket.
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Figure 4: Schematic of a
multi-stage rocket
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Red Star Blue Star Cone Fountain Green Fire
KClO3 (64%) KClO4 (38%) KNO3 (53%) NH4ClO4 (50%)
Red gum (13%) NH4ClO4 (29%) Fe (32%) Ba(NO2)3 (34%)
Dextrin (4%) CuCO3 (14%) S (8%) Fine sawdust (8%)
SrCO3 (19%) Red gum (14%) C (2%) Shellac (8%)
Dextrin (5%) Al (4%)
Stearic acid (1%)
Requirements
Magnesium wire
Iron Filings
Strip of Aluminium
Strontium Nitrate
Barium Nitrate
Commper Chloride
Potassium Sulphate
Bunsen Burner
Tongs
Matches
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Figure 5: Fireworks in Sydney
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Procedure And Observation
1) Sample Taken : Magnesium Wire
Experiment Observation Inference
2) Sample Taken : Iron Filings
Experiment Observation Inference
3) Sample Taken : Strip of Aluminium
Experiment Observation Inference
4) Sample Taken : Strontium Nitrate
Experiment Observation Inference
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5) Sample Taken : Barium Nitrate
Experiment Observation Inference
6) Sample Taken : Copper Chloride
Experiment Observation Inference
7) Sample Taken : Potassium Sulphate
Experiment Observation Inference
Result
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Bibliography
1. Conkling, J. A. Pyrotechnics. Encyclopædia Britannica.
2. Fireworks: The Basics. American Chemical Society (ACS).
3. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CPSC
Fireworks Safety Alert. U.S. Government Printing Office:
Washington, DC, 2024.
4. [Link]/wiki/Fireworks
5. [Link]/history-of-fireworks
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