Anyone know..

[inferno]

Whats in sparklers? it burns hot but very slow, and is hard to light usually. Anyone know what it is? Im just curious about it. Sorry for posting a new topic but i couldnt see anywhere else this fitted in.

[CyclonitePyro]

Sparklers can be made of a number of different oxidizers and metals.
Basically they are made of a metal, of different particle sizes mixed with an oxidiser, and bound together with something, dextrin, and different gums.
Depending on what it is supposed to do and the company the components can vary.

<small>[ May 19, 2002, 01:23 AM: Message edited by: CyclonitePyro ]</small>

[xoo1246]

Not to complain, but aren't there rules?

[BrAiNFeVeR]

I allways loved the saying "Rules are made to be broken" :-)
But then , I don't like the chaos that creates, so I don't break them.

What rule do you think is broken ?
The comp around the metal wire is a pyrotechnic mixture, and fits right in LE-section ...

[krimmie]

I found this site when I did a search for "sparklers".
Scroll to top of page for index.

<a href="http://huizen.dds.nl/~wfvisser/compoDB.html#chapter1" target="_blank">http://huizen.dds.nl/~wfvisser/compoDB.html#chapter1</a>

<small>[ May 19, 2002, 07:23 AM: Message edited by: krimmie ]</small>

[kingspaz]

brain, i think xoo meant rules for the companies to follow. like not being allowed to use chlorates, etc.

[A_W]

Sparklers are made of a metal-stick dipped in a paste consisting of: Bariumnitrate, aluminum, small pieces of iron and a binder. When this mixture is ignited, the oxider (BN) and fuel (Al) burns in a strong, exothermic reaction. The temperatures created are high (approx. 1500*C) and ignites the small pieces of iron. It is the burning iron that makes the sparks.

Why the flame is not bright green (because of the barium), is to me a mystery, but the information was taken from a reliable source. I have used this mixture as a thermite substitute for a long time.

[kingspaz]

if the Fe was responsible for making the sparks then they would be orange not white. therefore Fe cannot be responsible for the sparks. i thought it was larger pieces of Al which made the sparks...

[a_bab]

You are right, there are some sparklers which will produce white sparks. These are silvery in color, and there are other types of sparklers which produce yellow sparks, made with iron.

[Anthony]

I wouldn't rule out titanium or magnesium/magnalum either.

[SATANIC]

does anyone have some actual compositions they have discovered from testing themselves?

It's easy to find some info on possible comps, and while that helps to make your own, i would be more interested in what i could extract from commercially availiable sparklers. Here in australia they are fairly cheap, i've even trid using them as a low explosive in paper casings. ( they didn't work, though the casings were crap and fell apart. )

I always thought it was a chlorate..... there were some posts to that effect a long while ago.

[krimmie]

----I have used both of these with good results----

Sparkler #13
Source: "Mengen en Roeren"[6], page 224.
Comments:
Preparation: Mix the composition with a 10% dextrin solution in water, and dip iron wire or wood in the moist compositon. Adding 500 parts strontium nitrate will produce a red color, adding 60 parts barium nitrate will produce a green color.

Potassium chlorate................................300
Aluminum granules.................................60
Charcoal.......................................... 2

Sparkler #14
Source: rec.pyrotechnics. Posted by Tom137 <tom137@aol.com.Composition from Weingart[5], p. 190.
Comments:
Preparation:

Potassium perchlorate.............................10
Aluminum, finely powdered.........................7
Dextrin........................................... 3
Water............................................. 20

[inferno]

Im from Aus too, and normal sparklers here burn kinda orange (just red-hot orange) and throw out white/yellow sparks. Theyre cheap, and excellent for fuses. As for them not being flexible like Visco fuse or whatever, if you put a length of masking tape along their length, and wrap it around, they are flexible. Best to leave a small amount of sparkler w/o tape so you can light that, as the tape burns for a while before the sparkler lights if you light it with tape. It sends out two jets of flame which makes it look good too.
<pre>

|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|
|=====================|==----------
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
</pre>
Just wrap the tape around, you might wanna go over twice too, it sticks much better then.

Anyway thanks for the info, i had read they had coarse Al but that was it...and that site helps with the compositions. I was also wondering if it would be possible to crush the composition into powder and put it in water to get the non-soluble material? Very cheap source of Al/Mg/Ti metal powders. Sparklers in Aus are about US$0.45c for 16, or US$1 for 40 smaller ones. I haven't seen coloured sparklers here, only "Electric Sparklers". And as they burn at about 1500C, they light almost anything, Mg ribbon, thermite...

And for really nice looking and very cheap fountains, get two coke bottle lids, put a hole big enough for a sparkler in one, tape the hole over on the outside, and break off some sparkler stuff. Fill both the lids tight with it (press it in a bit with a hammer or dowel) and quickly put them together and tape them. Take the tape off the hole and stick in a sparkler, about halfway. Light the sparkler and step back, depending on the size of the hole, it will shoot a shower of sparks 3 feet to 7 feet in the air, but only for around 5 seconds. They look great though, and cost nothing, about 25 cents American, as it uses about 8 sparklers. For an even better effect, cut up some bits of Mg ribbon and mix them in the sparklers, and it throws out bright blue sparks as well as yellow. Looks great, and for the price, its great.
<pre>
||
|| <== Sparkler
___||___
|&&&||&&&| <== Bottle lids with && sparkler material.
|&&&||&&&|
|&&&&&&&&|
|&&&&&&&&|
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
</pre>
Anyway ive typed too much already, see ya

[vulture]

The sparklers you can buy here all contain bariumnitrate. It still emits bright white light, because Al masks the color and BaO which forms after the decomposition of Ba(NO3)2, emits bright white light when heated. (this goes for all earthalkalimetals)

I wouldn't use water to dissolve sparklers, it won't hurt the Al, but the Mg will react, Fe and Ti will corrode.

[xoo1246]

Well, I thought that there were a rule at this forum about searching the net/archives before asking something that can be found within a few clicks.
But hey, I'm not bothered if people ask things.

[kingspaz]

sorry xoo,
i didn't realise a newbie posted this. also i don't think this has been discussed before, well atleast not for a long time.

[krimmie]

This is a pic of composition # 14 from above.
You will have to copy and paste URL.

<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/krimmie/sparkler.JPG" target="_blank">http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/krimmie/sparkler.JPG</a>

[krimmie]

I didn't weigh the thing. I mixed up a few ounces of the composition after I had seen this thread...I made a dozen sparklers formed the rest into a ball to be used a different way later. Sorry, no specifics!

[inferno]

Krimmie, from the looks of that mix it would make a nice star mixed with some meal or BP, do a few tests if u have enough of the stuff left over, looks promising.

Oh and satanic, the stuff doesn't burn fast enough for salutes, at least not the commercial kind.

<small>[ May 22, 2002, 03:27 AM: Message edited by: inferno ]</small>

[inferno]

Does anyone know the difference between these H2O2's? THeyre all around the same price, but i dont know what the 20v means and stuff..can someone help?

Hydrogen Peroxide 10v 175ml Craig $3.95
Hydrogen Peroxide 20v 175ml Craig $3.62
Hydrogen Peroxide 10 volume 3% 100 Gilseal $2.26
Hydrogen Peroxide 20 volume 6% 100 Gilseal $2.26
Hydrogen Peroxide Bp 10V 100ml Sigma $2.43
Hydrogen Peroxide BP 20V 100ml Sigma $2.43

Is 10v 3%, 20v 6%? This is for making AP. The prices are from <a href="http://www.onlinepharmacy.com.au" target="_blank">www.onlinepharmacy.com.au</a> , its a cookie based page so i cant give the exact link, but on the homepage it has a "search" box, i just typed in hydrogen.

Thanks

(PS - is Alum powder powdered Al, or aluminium sulfate? I did a search but had no conclusive answer, one source kind of said its aluminium sulfate but wasnt very conclusive, any answers would be helpful thanks)

<small>[ May 23, 2002, 07:23 AM: Message edited by: inferno ]</small>

[S. Toppholzer]

krimmie:
Awesome pic - though I wouldn't dare hanging THIS on a christmas tree at home <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />