Gunpowder fireworks

The precautions with any particular explosive depends on the hazard. In the UK explosives are classified as 1 — Gunpowder 2 — Nitrate mixture 3 — Nitro compound 4 - Chlorate mixture 5 - Fulminate 6 - Ammunition and 7 - Fireworks. 

People love the spectacle of fireworks. From Bastille Day in France to Guy Fawkes Day in Britain, from Chinese New Year to Canada Day, fireworks bring joy to celebrations all around the world. In the United States, about 100 million worth of fireworks are discharged every year in honor of Independence Day. Fireworks date back more than 1000 years to the discovery of black powder in China. This first gunpowder was brought to Europe during the Middle Ages and was used widely in weapons, in construction, and for fireworks. 

By the nineteenth century, English firework makers including Brock, Pain and Wells had established themselves in the London area to be later followed by Standard Fireworks and others in the North. Thus the availability of locally-produced gunpowder and fireworks was enough to eschew any drift towards European suppliers. 

The history of Pains Fireworks began in about 1593 when John Pain established his business as a gunpowder manufacturer and armourer near Bow Bridge in East London. It is also documented that twelve years later, in 1605, he had the dubious distinction of being the supplier of the one tonne of powder required by Mr Guy Fawkes for reasons mentioned previously ... 

Clearly gunpowder has played a prominent role in the construction of early fireworks but, unless it was used in conjunction with other pyrotechnic mixtures, the range of effects was very limited. However, it continued to be the main performer in fireworks until the introduction... 

In firework manufacture the use of gunpowder for priming pressed compositions containing chlorates can also be questioned on the grounds of chemical incompatibility. Sulfuric acid is known to react with chlorates to form chloric acid, HCIO3, which would be avoided by the use of sulfurless gunpowder. 

Despite the desirable qualities of gunpowder, which include long-term stability when dry, ease of ignition, ease of loading and relative insensitivity to rough handling when filled into items such as fireworks, it suffers the disadvantage of a variable moisture content which dictates the need for careful quality control. 

Although gunpowder remains the propellant of choice for the production of firework rockets, there has been development on military compositions since the beginning of the 19th century, notably in Europe. 

On ignition of the firework a reaction zone moves down the pressed composition and the components of the gunpowder react producing heat and hot gases. The latter entrain the titanium particles and eject them from the firework tube. During this process the metal particles are... 

First, it must be understood that all fireworks and pyrotechnic compositions are classed as explosives. It is both dangerous and illegal (a) to manufacture gunpowder or pyrotechnic compositions, (b) to assemble such compositions into fireworks, (c) to dismantle (unmake) fireworks or (d) to import fireworks without giving required information to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise. 

Chemical testing is carried out in an approved laboratory because the firework must first be dismantled. Wet methods of analysis are applied that involve analytical grade reagents to detect, in particular, the presence of chlorates in admixture with elemental sulfur. Sulfur-chlorate mixtures are banned in the UK, and one use of sulfurless gunpowder is in fireworks where chlorates are also present. 

The historical material - stemming from several well known sources -is valuable for its technical content. The subject matter then advances to a presentation on the characteristics of gunpowder, whose unique properties cause it to be the mainstay of the fireworks industry, even today. 

More peaceful uses of these crude articles appeared in the form of fire crackers - the first fireworks One mixture corresponded quite closely to modern gunpowder in that it contained saltpetre, sulfur and willow charcoal. The fire cracker was said to consist of a loosely-filled parchment tube tied tightly at both ends and with the introduction of a small hole to accept a match or fuse. All of these incendiary mixtures, presumably containing saltpetre, are mentioned in Chinese work dating... 

Guns were invented shortly after Bacon s death in about 1292 and so he never used the term gunpowder . However, he had certainly had experience of fireworks for which his early black powder recipe would have been perfectly suitable. In the Opus Majus he wrote ... 

Gunpowder was discovered by the Chinese many centuries ago, but they used it primarily for fireworks until it was imported to the West and used to blow up castles and then to propel projectiles. Explosives are solids that are endothermic with respect to their decomposition products. [We will consider the explosions of solids more in Chapter 10.] Typically explosives contain fuel atoms (C, H, and S) in close proximity to oxygen atoms (as nitrates and perchlorates) so that they will react to form CO2, H2O, and SO2, but only (one hopes) when intentionally ignited. Another class of exothermically decomposing solids is azides, and they are frequently used as igniters or fuses to heat up conventional explosives. 

Nitric acid is one of the most important industrial chemicals in the world. Its largest use is in the fertdizer industry for producing various nitrate fertd-izers. Such fertilizers include ammonium-, sodium-, potassium-, and calcium nitrates. Other major apphcations of nitric acid are in making nitrates and nitrooganics for use in explosives, gunpowder, and fireworks. Ammonium nitrate, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, and trinitrotoluenes are examples of such explosives, while barium and strontium nitrates are used in fireworks. 

Potassium nitrate is used in explosives, blasting powders, gunpowder, matches, and fireworks. Other applications of this salt include pickling meats tempering steel impregnating candle wicks freezing mixtures preparing other potassium salts and as a diuretic. 

Accdg to Greener (Ref 7, p 14), there was artillery at that time in Toulouse 1218—1258. In the reign of Nan Sung, Gunpowder and fireworks were manufd in quantity sufficient not only for local consumption but also for export, mostly to Caliphate country (Irak) (Ref 66, p 19)... 

The origin of pyrotechnics is obscure and the Chinese are usually credited with the invention of pyrotechnics (gunpowder-a pyrotechnic mixture of charcoal, potassium nitrate and sulfur). Pyrotechnics are among the oldest explosive devices known to man and have been used from very early times to display fireworks for celebrating important occasions or to express victory. Fireworks are believed to be similar to pyrotechnics with minor differences. 

Applications of Sulphur.--Much sulphur is consumed in the manufacture of matches, being applied in the form of phosphorus sulphide as a constituent of the heads of common friction matches, whilst on the Continent the wooden splints have frequently been treated with sulphur to facilitate the passage of the flame from the bend to the remainder of the match. Large quantities of sulphur are also required for the production of gunpowder and fireworks for these purposes finely divided sulphur is necessary, but u flowers of sulphur is not suitable on account of its liability to contain tract s of sulphuric acid, due to atmospheric oxidation, which would render its use dangerous. 

Figure 19. Stamp Mill for Making Black Powder. (Courtesy National Fireworks Company and the Boston Globe.) This mill, which makes powder for use in the manufacture of fireworks, consists of a single block of granite in which three deep cup-shaped cavities have been cut. The stamps which operate in these cups are supplied at their lower ends with cylindrical blocks of wood, sections cut from the trunk of a hornbeam tree. These are replaced when worn out. The powder from the mill is called meal powder and is used as such in the manufacture of fireworks. Also it is moistened slightly with water and rubbed through sieves to form granular gunpowder for use in making rockets, Roman candles, aerial bombshells, and other artifices.

Smoke shells and rockets are used to produce smoke clouds for military signaling and, in daylight fireworks, for ornamental effects. The shell case or rocket head is filled with a fine powder of the desired color, which powdered material need not necessarily be one which will tolerate heat, and this is dispersed in the form of a colored cloud by the explosion of a small bag of gunpowder placed as near to its center as may be. Artificial vermilion (red), ultramarine (blue), Paris green, chrome yellow, chalk, and ivory black are among the materials which have been used, but almost any material which has a bright color when powdered and which does not cake together may be employed. 

Firecrackers have been around for at least a thousand years. The first firecrackers, believed to have been developed by the ancient Chinese, were made up of black powder (also called gunpowder), stuffed into bamboo tubes and tossed into a fire where they made a loud pop. Today, gunpowder is stuffed into a cardboard tube and a fuse is used to light the black powder. Italian firemasters are credited with inventing the shells that allow aerial fireworks to be launched into the air and explode in a shower of color. 

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