Blue fireworks hd11/27/2023 And do you think at this point we could have found a way to make blue easier for everyone?ĬONKLING: Well, people have been trying for decades and decades and decades. They're much, much brighter.ĬORNISH: Now, like we said, it's been more than a thousand years since the Chinese invented fireworks. So even at best, your blue is going to be dim if you compare it to the current reds and greens and some of the other colors that are out there now. They've gotten a lot better in recent years because, again, new chemistry using metal fuels has raised their flame temperature, which makes the color brighter, but you can't do that with blue because you wash out the color. The red color, the green color, the orange color, white, very, very easy to produce. If the temperature is not high enough, you don't get any type of intensity, so you need a perfect flame temperature.ĬORNISH: And I understand that, of course, you need certain elements to create certain colors and, of course, reds and oranges and things that are similar to the colors of fire are a lot easier to produce.ĬONKLING: Yes. But if your temperature gets too high, you lose the color. The particular light that copper emits at high temperature is blue. And then you heat it to very high temperature, and it gives off light. And for the color blue, the emitter, the chemical species that produces a blue light up in the sky is a fragile copper compounding, a gas. It's nice to be with you.ĬORNISH: So begin by telling us, what makes the color blue so difficult to replicate in fireworks?ĬONKLING: Well, you need the correct chemistry. He's technical director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. But why? For that, we turn to John Conkling. It's by far the hardest color to produce. The color blue has been the Holy Grail for pyrotechnics experts since fireworks were invented more than a millennium ago. Are they true blue, not pale or purple or mauve? This is a snippet from a 2015 article by Sean Hutchinson.If you're watching fireworks tonight, here's how you can tell you're looking at a top-shelf display and not some cut-rate carnival sideshow. A normal fireworks shell can hold up to eight colors at once. Strontium compounds create the reds, aluminum or titanium metals create whites, sodium creates golds or yellows, calcium salts create oranges, and copper compounds give us blues. Technicians combine a recipe of oxidizers to get different colors out of each firework, with each color representing a different mixture of chemical compounds. The product of that mixture is heat, giving off the vivid and explosive gleam we see in the sky every 4th of July, most likely to the strains of Lynyrd Skynyrd or some shit-kicking country singer who can rhyme red, white, and blue with “knocking back a couple brews” or something. It isn’t just gunpowder we’re talking about, unless you want a standard exploding ball of fire, which, to be honest, is still pretty cool, if unsubtle.Īfter the fireworks shell is launched into the air, at a predetermined height a chemical reaction at a temperature above the standard boiling point causes the oxidizer and the fuel to mix. To get all those distinctive colors, two main components are mixed and packed tightly together: an oxygen-rich chemical (otherwise known as an oxidizer) and a fuel source like sulfur or charcoal that burns. “In recent years the fireworks industry has shifted away from the traditional red, white, blue,” she told me, “and has focused on perfecting a softer palette of colors.” It could be a major patriotic problem, but Heckman says it hasn’t spoiled fireworks celebrations. Julie Heckman, the Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, told Inverse, “A deep, vibrant blue, remains the most difficult color to make.” Despite the basic components of fireworks being around for thousands of years, no one has found the perfect chemical formula for the right blue hue.Įven though humans started incorporating the color into art and other uses more than 6,000 years ago it remains a mystery to fireworks experts. Blue fireworks, weirdly, after all these years, still vex the pyros, and point to the quirky chemistry underlying spectacular explosions. The go-to choice for the job are fireworks, and the red and white we have down pat. Patriotism in July is, as a great man once said, synonymous with blowing up a small part of America.
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