Lampblack effect

Comets burn with a charcoal or lampblack effect, meteors with... 

Charcoal and lampblack effect the reduction more easily than anthracite, complete reduction being effected with the former at 900° C-, some 20 to 30 per cent, of charcoal in excess of that required in the above equation being desirable. At higher temperatures the reduction proceeds much more rapidly. By briquetting the charcoal and cobalt oxide, using some organic material, such as molasses, as binder, reduction may be effected at a slightly lower temperature. 

Lampblack stars burn with a rather dull soft light. Discharged in large number from a rocket or aerial shell, they produce the beautiful willow-tree effect. They are made, according to Allen F. Clark, by incorporating 3 pounds of lampblack, 4 pounds of meal powder, and 2 pound of finely powdered antimony sulfide with 2 ounces of shellac dissolved in alcohol. 

First we know that black compositions are far more easily ignited than white ones. This is naturally what we would expect. Adding Z% charcoal or lampblack shows the effect. The finer the carbon particles are, the larger the effect is lampblack is more effective than the charcoal. 

Golden streamer stars and willow effects are made with charcoal or lampblack or a mixture of both. A good quality of lampblack should always be used, but it has the disadvantage of being very dirty to handle and difficult to wet because of its lightness and grease content. 

Prior to about 1880, the carbon forms available included lampblack which was the only available writing material and obtained from smoking flames. Porous carbons commonly obtained by carbonizing wood, known as charcoals, had uses as a medicine (e.g. stomach problems), as a deodorant (soap and showers were non-existent) and in gunpowder (ballistics) and in pyrotechnics. World War n, where gas warfare made its appearance, demanded extensive use of activated carbon in respirators the effective use of which was a matter of life and death. 

Carbon black has also useful antistatic properties, can provide electrical conductivity and gives effective UV screening so it can be described as an universal additive. There are about 100 different grades of carbon black today. Depending on production processes the following types of carbon black are known furnace black (10-100 pm) channel black (10-30 pm), lampblack (60-200 pm), thermal black (100-200 or 300-500 pm), acetylene black (30 0 pm), etc. 

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