Chemistry

Substances

Making fireworks requires chemicals with very specific properties and characteristics. Skylighter offers a wide variety of chemicals used to make fireworks and pyrotechnic devices. Here you will find all the common oxidizers and fuels such as potassium perchlorate, potassium nitrate (saltpeter), sodium nitrate, strontium nitrate, aluminum and other metal powders used in making fireworks. But Skylighter can also provide you with many less common and hard to find fireworks chemicals such as Parlon, saran, red gum, starpol, Chlorowax, and dozens of others.

Gunpowder

75% Potassium Nitrate
15% Charcoal
10% Sulfur

The chemicals should be ground into fine powder (separately!)with a morter and pestle. If gunpowder is ignited in the open, it burns fiercely, but if in a closed space it builds up pressure from the released gases and explode the container.Gunpowder works when the potassium nitrate oxidizes the charcoal and sulfur, which then burns fiercely.Carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide are the gases released.

Ammonal

Ammonal is a mixture of ammonium nitrate (oxidizer) with aluminum powder (fuel).

86% Ammonium Nitrate
6% Stearic Acid
8% Aluminum Powder
French ammonal is an easily improvised low explosive mixture. It is generally less effective than an equal weight of TNT (2,4,6-Trinitrotoulene). The material is loaded by pressing it into a suitable container. Special blasting caps do initiation. Tell you Stearic acid is a colorless, and wax like solid substance.

Nitroglycerin

Nitroglycerin is the ingredient which, from the beginning of the dynamite industry, has given such explosives their characteristics high velocity, as distinguished from low velocity black powder. Nitroglycerin is obtained by the action of nitric acid on glycerin. While sulphuric acid is also used in the process of making nitroglycerin.

In carrying out the nitration, the proper amount of mixed acid is introduced into the nitrating vessel. Special coils are introduced to keep the acid cool. With agitation glycerin is introduced into the vessel at such a rate that the rise in temperature is only moderate. The temp range is maintained between 50 to 37 F (10-3 C) but the nitroglycerin itself freezes at 55 F, but conducting out this at lower temperature is for safety part. Nitroglycerin resembles glycerin in appearance, and is a white to yellowish, viscous liquid. It needs emphasized that the manufacture of nitroglycerin is a hazardous operation, and should not be attempted by inexperienced persons.

Molecular Compounds

Molecular compounds are used mostly for fuels and binders or solvents. Fuels used in pyrotechnics are red gum and sugar (dextrose, sucrose and even sorbitol). Sugars are used mostly in rocket fuels and one favorite mixture is a sugar with potassium nitrate. This mixture is often melted to form an intimate mixture, then poured into tubes to make rocket engines. Red gum is used as a fuel and sometimes a binder because it is soluble in alcohols and other non polar solvents. Stearin – C21H42O4, is used as a fuel sometimes and is used to protect metal fuels such as iron from oxidization. Solvents such as acetone, alcohol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) are used to dissolve binders. Dextrin is a water soluble binder that is made by pyrolyzing a starch such as corn or potato starch.

Mentioned earlier in the ionic compounds section, the most common polyatomic ions are oxidizers such as chlorate, perchlorate, and nitrate. Ammonium is the only common cation used in pyrotechnics. One polyatomic anion that is not used as an oxidizer is dichromate. There are quite a few polyatomic ions so only the most common are mentioned. These ions form polyatomic compounds with many positive ions, most commonly potassium, and sodium.

Chlorates (ClO₃^-)are notoriously sensitive and dangerous because of this. The most common chlorate is potassium chlorate because it does not interfere with color production, it is not hygroscopic and it is not very toxic or expensive. When mixed with sulfur or salts of sulfur such as antimony trisulfide they make a dangerous mixture that is avoided. Chlorate mixes are also made more sensitive by acidic conditions, and strong acid can cause them to spontaneously combust. One way of lighting a thermite mix is to prepare chlorate and sucrose composition then drip concentrated sulfuric acid on it to act as a delay then the acid will light the mix. Because of this incompatibility with sulfur, contact with mixtures containing sulfur must be kept separate from chlorates.

This includes black powder, which can be very inconvenient. A few years ago a high school teacher from Lackawanna New York lost part of his hand while mixing potassium chlorate, sugar and sulfur for a smoke mix to test the fume hood system in the laboratory for leaks. Chlorates give off all of their oxygen atoms at a low temperature.

While not applying to pyrotechnics, chlorates such as sodium chlorate can form a high explosive called a cheddite. When sodium chlorate is mixed with vaseline it can be detonated though it has a very low velocity of detonation. Ammonium salts must be avoided when using chlorates because ammonium chlorate might form which is a sensitive explosive. The actual explosion is not a danger because it forms in such small amounts, but it can lead to spontaneous combustion.

Perchlorates (ClO₄^-) are similar to chlorates but they are more expensive and more stable. The most commonly used is again the potassium salt. Perchlorates give off their oxygen at higher temperatures and also give off more of it. Perchlorates are still sensitized by sulfur and acids but there are acceptable mixtures containing unacidic sulfur. Both chlorates and perchlorates give off chlorine during decomposition, so they can perform double duty as a chlorine donor. Neither chlorates or perchlorates are very water soluble.

Nitrates (NO₃^-) are much less vigorous oxidizer. They give off only one of their oxygen and at higher temperatures than the other oxidizers. When thermally decomposed, nitrates form metal oxides, nitrites and of course give oxygen gas. The further down the group the metal is, the more difficult it is to decompose the nitrate. For example sodium nitrate is less stable than potassium nitrate. Sodium nitrate decomposes at 3800 C and potassium nitrate at 4000C. Nitrates are much more water soluble than chlorates or perchlorates.

Potassium nitrate is the most commonly used nitrate. It is used in black powder which is used in in rockets and mortars to fire fireworks shells. Variations on black powder are used very widely for different stars effect. The solubility of nitrates is put to use in the precipitate method of black powder. Nitrates are more stable than the other oxidizers but they also have an incompatibility. Ammonium salts such as ammonium perchlorate must be avoided when nitrates are concerned. Nitrate salts and ammonium salts may perform a double decomposition reaction to form ammonium nitrate which is hygroscopic and will make a composition difficult or impossible to ignite.

Ammonium (NH₄⁺)As mentioned previously, ammonium has a few incompatibilities. Despite this it is still used in the form of ammonium perchlorate. Ammonium perchlorate is used in rocket fuels such as the ones used in the space shuttle because it decomposes to entirely gaseous products. This leaves nothing to clog up nozzles and enables it to use all of its mass to propel the rocket. Ammonium perchlorate is also used in blue stars with copper salts. It is used because it is decomposes to hydrochloric acid gas which is an excellent chlorine source. In also has almost no flame color to wash out the delicate blue of copper(II) chloride. Ammonium nitrate is sometimes used with energetic fuels such as magnesium for rockets, but it is not common because ammonium nitrate is hygroscopic.

Dichromates (Cr₂O₇^2-) are used rarely because of their carcinogenicity and toxicity. Their most commonly use is as potassium dichromate in solution with water to prevent the evolution of hydrogen when the water is used in a composition with magnesium. The water is used in the composition to dissolve the binder which is usually dextrin. Their other common use is in catalysts. One pyrotechnics display that is a favorite in the lab is thermal decomposition of ammonium dichromate. Once started the reaction produces chromium oxide, nitrogen and water. The chromium oxide is not very dense and it forms a cone around the reacting ammonium dichromate to make it look like a volcano.

Fireworks colors

Some information about chemical that shoud be used to make needed color of fireworks. With fireworks, as with other things, cost often relates to quality. Skill of the manufacturer and date the firework was produced greatly affect the final display (or lack thereof).

Color	Compound
Red	strontium salts, lithium salts lithium carbonate, Li2CO3 = red strontium carbonate, SrCO3 = bright red
Orange	calcium salts calcium chloride, CaCl2 calcium sulfate, CaSO4·xH2O, where x = 0,2,3,5
Gold	incandescence of iron (with carbon), charcoal, or lampblack
Yellow	sodium compounds sodium nitrate, NaNO3 cryolite, Na3AlF6
Electric White	white-hot metal, such as magnesium or aluminum barium oxide, BaO
Green	barium compounds + chlorine producer barium chloride, BaCl+ = bright green
Blue	copper compounds + chlorine producer copper acetoarsenite (Paris Green), Cu3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 = blue copper (I) chloride, CuCl = turquoise blue
Purple	mixture of strontium (red) and copper (blue) compounds
Silver	burning aluminum, titanium, or magnesium powder or flakes

more pyrotechnical information

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