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Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with text stuff from dot com.

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Speaker 1: Hay there and welcome to text stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland

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Speaker 1: and and Lauren. I believe when last we met, we

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Speaker 1: began to talk about fireworks. Yes, cyber Night, one of

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Speaker 1: our listeners wrote in and asked if we could talk

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Speaker 1: about how they work, how those big displays work, how

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Speaker 1: do they choreograph everything, and what's going on? And boy,

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Speaker 1: how do you we can talk about that? Yeah? So

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Speaker 1: we we covered the basics, right, the basic stuff what

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Speaker 1: goes boom in episode one, so we kind of covered

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Speaker 1: the black powder side of fireworks, which is the basic

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Speaker 1: chemical components that makes fireworks work. Yeah, exactly. It's it's

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Speaker 1: really what is allowing them to both launch into the

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Speaker 1: air in most cases and to explode outward and either

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Speaker 1: well both make a loud noise and to also project

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Speaker 1: whatever affect happens to be incorporated some kind of light display. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: and these get really complicated. As of about the Italian Renaissance,

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Speaker 1: people started adding different metals into the gunpowder to make

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Speaker 1: it burn in different colors, right, and I suspect that

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Speaker 1: this was tied into the fact that also around the

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Speaker 1: Italian Renaissance people were starting to make brilliantly colored paints

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Speaker 1: of many different kinds, and the same the same metal

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Speaker 1: compounds that were being used for those paints, I'm guessing

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Speaker 1: is what got ported over into firework. Absolutely. Yeah. They

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Speaker 1: also found you know, if you were able to get

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Speaker 1: a metallic salt and say burn it, it would burn

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Speaker 1: with a particular color of flame. So you would get

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Speaker 1: a flame that would be green or blue or whatever

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Speaker 1: based upon the metallic salts that were in that mixture.

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Speaker 1: And that's when they said, hey, this this firecrackers stuff.

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Speaker 1: If we were to put this in combination with the

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Speaker 1: firecracker stuff, we'd get these different colors of light that

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Speaker 1: would go off because of the explosion could ignite a

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Speaker 1: secondary charge that would have a mixture of these metallic

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Speaker 1: salts in them. So we just mix it together the

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Speaker 1: right way, we get the right color. Now, the important

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Speaker 1: thing to remember is that these ingredients, they don't change

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Speaker 1: the chemical reaction of the explosion itself. It's more like

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Speaker 1: adding a little flavor. So you're basic ingredient is still

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Speaker 1: the same. It's that black powder, but it's what you

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Speaker 1: mix with it that gives you the bright, pretty colors. Right,

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Speaker 1: And to explain what creates those bright, pretty colors, we

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Speaker 1: need to get down to an atomic level of how

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Speaker 1: photons are created, yeah, or not well, given off, given

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Speaker 1: off yeah. Yeah. So if you have an atom, one

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Speaker 1: of the things that one of the sub atomic particles

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Speaker 1: that make up that atom is the electron. Right. You

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Speaker 1: have electrons that surround the neutral the nucleus with neutrons

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Speaker 1: and protons or in the case of hydrogen, just proton,

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Speaker 1: And if you were to add energy to that atom,

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Speaker 1: you would excite the electron. And I don't mean it'd

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Speaker 1: be like, oh, I cannot wait until a veterest two

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Speaker 1: age of a tron comes out. Actually that's kind of

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Speaker 1: I imagine that the dance that the electron does is

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Speaker 1: very much like that dance, but I do the little

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Speaker 1: little little arms are at shoulder height and and clinched

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Speaker 1: in fists if you want to envision it, and then

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Speaker 1: you just kind of wiggle a little bit. So these electrons, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they get excited from their normal energy state, which is

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Speaker 1: called the ground state. That's the one that they naturally

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Speaker 1: inhabit when they're just hanging out exactly. So, so that

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Speaker 1: excited state will kind of push the electron further out. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So the thing is this is not sustainable forever. If

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Speaker 1: you take the energy source away, then the electron will

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Speaker 1: gradually come back down to its ground state, but it

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Speaker 1: has to give off all that energy it accepted in

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Speaker 1: the process, all right, So when it snaps back, it

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Speaker 1: gives off energy in the form of a photon, right,

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Speaker 1: And depending upon the element, you will get a different

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Speaker 1: color of light, a different a different wavelength of photon exactly. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the photons light is dependent upon its wavelength. The amount

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Speaker 1: of energy that it has uh equals the color that

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Speaker 1: you see. Yeah. So, and and the thing is, once

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Speaker 1: you know which elements are generating a certain color, it's

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Speaker 1: going to be that way all the time. It's pretty dependable. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So we have a list of colors and a list

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Speaker 1: of the elements the metallic salts that are commonly used

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Speaker 1: to create said colors in your typical fireworks display. So

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Speaker 1: we're going to alternate describing these. Do you want me

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Speaker 1: to go first? It's the longest list, so all right,

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Speaker 1: here we go. All right, So for the color, we're

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Speaker 1: going by the way in the order of roy G BIV.

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Speaker 1: Technically we're doing roy G bit because because indigo actually

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Speaker 1: gets turned into indigo and violently get turned into purple. Also,

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Speaker 1: I guess it's technically roy g BIPs because we have

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Speaker 1: an s at the end. All right, fair enough, here

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Speaker 1: we go, starting off red. To create the color red,

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Speaker 1: you would typically add metallic salts such as strontium salts,

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Speaker 1: lithium salts, lithium carbonate, or strontium carbonate, which creates a

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Speaker 1: very bright red so the Again, depending upon which ones

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Speaker 1: you use, you get different hues of whatever color you're

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Speaker 1: looking at. Sure, orange you've got calcium salts or calcium chloride.

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Speaker 1: Yellow you have sodium salts or sodium chloride. Green can

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Speaker 1: be barium compounds plus a chlorine producer or barium chloride. Yep.

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Speaker 1: Blue would be copper compounds plus a chlorine producer you're

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Speaker 1: probably noticing some trends here, or copper chloride. Purple can

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Speaker 1: be a mixture of blue and red compounds, so so

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Speaker 1: like strontium and copper. And then you have silver, which

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Speaker 1: is essentially something like aluminium, titanium, or magnesium that's just

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Speaker 1: burning and those things burn really super bright. That's what

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Speaker 1: gives fireworks there their silvery sparkly look. Yeah. So those

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Speaker 1: are your basic ingredients. So how do we end up

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Speaker 1: with the starburst patterns? I mean, obviously, if you just

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Speaker 1: had an explosive with just these metallic salts mixed willy

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Speaker 1: nilly in there and it exploded, it would just be

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Speaker 1: a big, massive light in different colors. But we see

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Speaker 1: these beautiful starburst patterns that come out. So what is

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Speaker 1: it that causes that? Well, it's all in the actual

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Speaker 1: manufacture and design, the layout design of right, Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: it's how you have uh situated the various metallic salts

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Speaker 1: and you put them well. Well, okay, so so we

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Speaker 1: mentioned we mentioned at the end of the last episode

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Speaker 1: that the basic let's run down again, the basic way

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Speaker 1: that a firework is composed. Sure, okay, So if you

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Speaker 1: were looking at a firework from top to bottom, if

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Speaker 1: you cut one right in half, yeah, so the yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you cut it right in half, you would see

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Speaker 1: that in the center is a burst charge. That's that's

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Speaker 1: your your black powder that's designed to push everything outward

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Speaker 1: in uh in whatever formation you happen to have. And

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Speaker 1: then surrounding that you're going to have some kind of

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Speaker 1: a clay or or other material that's holding what's called

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Speaker 1: in the industry. Stars. Yeah, this is the metallic salts

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Speaker 1: that are placed in and these these stars are small,

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Speaker 1: they're like three or four centimeters across, so they look

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Speaker 1: like pellets, and the pellets can be put around. There's

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Speaker 1: also black powder around those, so it can really project

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Speaker 1: them out and also ignite them so that they burn properly.

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Speaker 1: Now you've got these layouts that will determine exactly what

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Speaker 1: kind of effect you'll have. It's also the shape of

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Speaker 1: the projectile shell itself, but really it's the layout of

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Speaker 1: those those stars. If you put the stars in a

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Speaker 1: really tight circle around this this uh, this burst charge,

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Speaker 1: then when the firework goes off, you're going to get

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Speaker 1: a perfect circle that expands outward as these metallic salts

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Speaker 1: ignite and fly outward. And the cool thing is that

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Speaker 1: a lot of these stars they have it where there

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Speaker 1: it's a three and sixty degree thing. But because of

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Speaker 1: the way we perceive fireworks, it looks to us more

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Speaker 1: like a two dimensional circle that expands out, but it's

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Speaker 1: actually going out in all directions. A true explosion. Uh,

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Speaker 1: if you were somehow able to be in the middle

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Speaker 1: of one, for example, if you were I don't know

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Speaker 1: to fly a drone with a video camera on it

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Speaker 1: into a fireworks display, which happened this year, then you

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Speaker 1: would be able to see that it explodes outward in

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Speaker 1: all directions, not just in a two dimensional circle, which

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Speaker 1: is pretty cool. Uh. At any rate, you end up

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Speaker 1: mixing those metallic salts with an oxidizer reducing agent, which

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Speaker 1: is also a fuel. Oxidizers and reducers work together to

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Speaker 1: create the Bernie Bernie, and then also a binder which

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Speaker 1: holds all the stuff together. Now, the oxidizers and the

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Speaker 1: stars aren't usually potassium nitrate like you would find a

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Speaker 1: black powder, because those oxidizers don't allow for high temperatures

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Speaker 1: that are needed to produce the chemical reactions necessary for

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Speaker 1: the different colors. In other words, potassium nitrate doesn't burn

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Speaker 1: hot enough to ignite those metallic salts, so we usually

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Speaker 1: end up going with something like potassium chlorate, which we

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Speaker 1: mentioned in the previous episode. Creates these more even more

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Speaker 1: spectacler explosions or combustions. Uh. Just it burns even faster

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Speaker 1: than regular black powder does, making it much more dangerous.

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Speaker 1: But that's what you need in order to generate these colors.

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Speaker 1: Although again also that we mentioned in the last episode,

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Speaker 1: people are looking at alternatives because potassium chlorate is not

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Speaker 1: the best thing in the world to get in the environment.

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Speaker 1: Once it has combusted, you get chloride for one thing,

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Speaker 1: not a good stuff, but you do get those more

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Speaker 1: intense reactions which allows the the starbursts to ignite and

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Speaker 1: fly outward. So you would typically have lots and lots

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Speaker 1: of these stars packed into a single firework and you

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Speaker 1: place the meticulously inside the rocket. And by meticulously, I

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Speaker 1: mean this is done by hand. People hand make these

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Speaker 1: fireworks so that the patterns are exact. They will place

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Speaker 1: the stars strategically. Uh, this is how you are able

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Speaker 1: to get something like a smiley face effect because it's

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Speaker 1: it's it's all based on physics. You know that you

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Speaker 1: know exactly how far something's gonna fly based upon on

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Speaker 1: the amount of black powder in there, and it's orientation

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Speaker 1: within the firework itself. So there's nothing special in the

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Speaker 1: sense of there's no special tech that makes this heart

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Speaker 1: shape or this smiley face. It's all in how those

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Speaker 1: stars are right in there. It's very careful chemistry and

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Speaker 1: mixing and physics. Yeah, physics does the rest for you.

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Speaker 1: As if you've done your job correctly in the design

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Speaker 1: of the physical firework. Physics takes care of the rest.

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Speaker 1: It'll just make stuff go boom, and it'll fly the

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Speaker 1: way it's supposed to fly based upon where you put it.

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure machines could could even more precisely than

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Speaker 1: humans create these mixtures and put them down in But

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Speaker 1: the thing is that machines tend to get a little

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Speaker 1: bit warm and sparky while they're doing their things, so

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Speaker 1: overall it's a lot. I mean, my hand is way

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Speaker 1: less sparky than most machines that I know. Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: also get rid of that styck electricity before you go

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Speaker 1: in there. But see, one thing you could do is

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Speaker 1: you could use computer programs to help you figure out

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Speaker 1: what's the ideal layout. Sure, I'm sure that those algorithms exist. Yes, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they do. Where you can actually, you have all because

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Speaker 1: the laws of physics are pretty consistent. You know, we

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Speaker 1: don't generally have our laws turned upside down from one

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Speaker 1: day to the next. As we'll talk about in the

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Speaker 1: next section. There are some factors that can cause a

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Speaker 1: little bit of havoc. Weather, humidity, all that kind of stuff. Pressure,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure, so looking at a rocket completely in cross section.

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Speaker 1: Let's say you're cutting it in half long ways, not

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Speaker 1: not horizontally, so vertically. Uh, and you're looking at it

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Speaker 1: from top to bottom. Here's what you would have. You

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Speaker 1: would have a one main fuse that would lead down

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Speaker 1: from the top of the projectile into the firework. That

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Speaker 1: would ignite two separate other fuses. All right, So you've

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Speaker 1: got one fuse that's a time delay fuse, and it

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Speaker 1: burns more slowly. Then you have a quick burning fuse,

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Speaker 1: which obviously burns faster. The quick burning fuse goes along

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Speaker 1: the outside of the firework down into its base. That's

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Speaker 1: where you have the lift charge. That's the back powder

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Speaker 1: that's going to provide the force to project the the

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Speaker 1: firework into the sky. Uh. The second the time delay

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Speaker 1: fuse will continue to burn, and if you've designed the

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Speaker 1: firework correctly, again based upon the laws of physics, you

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Speaker 1: will have it ignite it just the right uh arc

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Speaker 1: right right, usually when the firework has reached the peak exactly,

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Speaker 1: and so that would light the burst charge that's the

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Speaker 1: one that has all the stars centered around it. So

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Speaker 1: you've got two charges, the lift charge and the burst charge,

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Speaker 1: and the two have to be separated or else you

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Speaker 1: just get a mortar that explodes in a bright color

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Speaker 1: of light, which we've had happened before that accidents have happened,

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Speaker 1: um and then right, and then each of those little

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Speaker 1: stars inside the package have their own oxidizers that are

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Speaker 1: going to set off at the star exactly. And you

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Speaker 1: may even have a multi break firework which would have

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Speaker 1: multiple chambers that have burst charges and stars in them,

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Speaker 1: so that you get multiple explosions from one projectile. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Those would have even separate ration charges. You can think

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Speaker 1: of it kind of like a rocket that goes into

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Speaker 1: outer space. You know, when the engines are done, you

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Speaker 1: have the little separator charges that explode, separating the engines

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Speaker 1: away so that the rest of the vehicle can continue

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Speaker 1: going off into space. Same sort of thing with your

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Speaker 1: basic firework, except of course you're not shooting it nearly

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Speaker 1: as high, but you have little little Yeah, you have

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Speaker 1: a little separation charges that will allow the multi breaks

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Speaker 1: to happen. Meanwhile, that fuse just continues to slowly go

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Speaker 1: through the entire uh firework, lighting each section uh in

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Speaker 1: the right order. So it's pretty cool. So let's talk

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Speaker 1: about some of these different kinds of shells and what

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Speaker 1: exactly they do. Sure, yeah, so these are these are

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Speaker 1: terms in the fireworks industry. So the kind of shell

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Speaker 1: you have, the design of it, the the physical shape

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Speaker 1: of the shell as well as the layout of the

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Speaker 1: stars are what determine the how it behaves. So, for example,

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Speaker 1: I guess we can alternate with these two. You have

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Speaker 1: a palm shell, which contains large comets or charges in

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Speaker 1: the shape of a solid cylinder. These travel outward, they

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Speaker 1: explode and then curve downward like the limbs of a

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Speaker 1: palm tree. So those are you know, now you'll be

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Speaker 1: able to impress your friends when you watch a fireworks display.

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Speaker 1: That's a palm charge. Really well done. You've also got

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Speaker 1: the round shells. Those perhaps expectedly explode in a spherical shape,

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Speaker 1: usually of colored stars. Yeah, this is what I always

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Speaker 1: think of when I think fireworks. This is the particular

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Speaker 1: style I think of, just the big round globe of

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Speaker 1: glowing stars like red or green, flying outward. Actually think

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Speaker 1: of the palm first. Yeah, I can, I can see it.

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Speaker 1: All depends on I guess, your own personal experience. I've

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Speaker 1: seen a lot of Disney fireworks and and these round shells,

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Speaker 1: they're very fond of them. Yeah, because if you do

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Speaker 1: three of them in the right orientation, they look like

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Speaker 1: a mickey head, yes, exactly. So then you have the

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Speaker 1: ring shell. This explodes to produce a symmetrical ring of stars.

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Speaker 1: The way this works is that again, if you were

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Speaker 1: to cut a ring shell in half, you would see

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Speaker 1: just a perfect ring of the the pellets, the star

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Speaker 1: pellets around the burst charge, and it would just shoot

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Speaker 1: them all out, uh, in a circle, you know, in

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Speaker 1: in equal directions. So that's all that one works. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Then you've got a willow. These contain stars with a

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Speaker 1: high charcoal composition to make them really long burning so

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Speaker 1: that they'll fall out in the shape of willow branches

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Speaker 1: and and stay lips, stay visible sometimes even until they

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Speaker 1: hit the ground. Yeah, these are the ones that you know,

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Speaker 1: you see those sparkles and they just the long trail

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Speaker 1: of sparkles as they slowly descend. They're very, very impressive.

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Speaker 1: We're making so many gestures over here, folks, it's really

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of like, uh, spirit fingers going on

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Speaker 1: inside the studio right now. Then you have the roundel,

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Speaker 1: which bursts into a circle of maroon shells that then

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Speaker 1: explode in sequence maroon shells is that the color actually

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Speaker 1: no in in fireworks language, maroon shells are shells that

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Speaker 1: make a boom noise. These are the ones that I

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Speaker 1: really didn't like as a kid, the very loud banks. So,

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Speaker 1: by the way, again, the way you create that loud

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Speaker 1: bang is you really compressed that black powder uh in

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Speaker 1: in uh fireworks factories. The way I've seen this is

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00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,320
Speaker 1: that you create the parchment shell the black powders in it.

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Speaker 1: You then have that shell wrapped in string that is

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Speaker 1: very tightly wound so it compresses it. Then you put

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Speaker 1: wet parchment paper on the outside of it, tightly wrapped

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Speaker 1: so that when it dries, it compresses it even more. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: pretty impressive. Our next type is the chrysanthemum shell, which

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Speaker 1: which burst into like a spherical pattern of stars that

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Speaker 1: that leave a visible trail, so the effect is something

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Speaker 1: like a chrysanthemum blossom. Yep. Then you have the pistol,

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Speaker 1: the p I S T I L, which is like

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Speaker 1: the chrysanthemum shell, but this one has a core. There's

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Speaker 1: a different color than the stars that fly out from

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Speaker 1: the middle. So the middle has one color, the stars

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Speaker 1: the second color. You can have just a maroon shell. Ye,

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Speaker 1: so if you just just a bang, Yeah, I hated those,

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Speaker 1: and then you had the serpentine, which is my strategy,

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Speaker 1: and halo, which never works. But no serpent fireworks shell

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Speaker 1: bursts to send small tubes of incendiaries skittering outward at

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Speaker 1: random paths, which may culminate an exploding star. So if

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Speaker 1: you ever see the ones that have like the crazy

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Speaker 1: Spinney's that off, yeah, those are serpentines. So those are

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Speaker 1: your basic types of fireworks shells. Of course, there are

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Speaker 1: other variations on these, or there's some that use this

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Speaker 1: as a basis and then they create a different effect.

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Speaker 1: But if you were in the fireworks trade, those are

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Speaker 1: the kind of terms you would be hearing, and people

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Speaker 1: would just call them out as they would see them launchic. Oh,

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Speaker 1: that's a round, l that's a serpentine. You wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: to say that's a maroon because everyone would be going

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Speaker 1: what anyway. So we've talked a little bit about this,

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00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:44,320
Speaker 1: but actually launching fireworks, especially in terms of displays. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: the basic one we've covered the idea that you know

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Speaker 1: you have the slow burning fuse and the quick burning fuse.

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Speaker 1: The quick burning one lights the black powder. One thing

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Speaker 1: we didn't mention is that you do have to have

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Speaker 1: a mortar, which is essentially a pipe that has a

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Speaker 1: closed off end on one side. And you know, in

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Speaker 1: the old day, as you would essentially light the the

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Speaker 1: one main fuse, drop the package into the mortar, and

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Speaker 1: then run the heck away before everything started going buonky. So,

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00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:16,479
Speaker 1: once that lift charge ignites, it creates a lot of

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Speaker 1: gas and that gas expands and that's what provides the

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00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,879
Speaker 1: thrust to push the package out of the mortar and

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Speaker 1: into the air. So if this sounds a lot like

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Speaker 1: our discussions about things like cannon and flintlock pistols and

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Speaker 1: things of that nature, it's because it is. We're talking

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Speaker 1: about expanding gases. It's the same thing that creates the

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00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: the propulsion for your basic firearms. So you've got your

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Speaker 1: mortar and your your lift charge, and that's all you

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00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,639
Speaker 1: need to be able to launch it properly. These days,

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00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily need to have someone physically light a

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Speaker 1: fuse and then dump it into a mortar. Than right,

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Speaker 1: there's there there are computerized fuses that will i mean

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Speaker 1: not self light, but oh no, why Essentially you've got

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Speaker 1: is you set up your your mortar system that already

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Speaker 1: has the various packages in each mortar as it's supposed

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00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,639
Speaker 1: to be uh, and then you have an electrical charge

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00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,320
Speaker 1: that can create the spark to light the fuse, so

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00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:16,919
Speaker 1: that way everything can be done from a distance. You

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00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,760
Speaker 1: can either have it where it's manually done, where you

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Speaker 1: push a button and that button is what creates the spark,

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00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 1: or you can have it fully automated, where you've got

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Speaker 1: a full program and you say, at this time stamp

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Speaker 1: when this program runs, this particular spark needs to happen,

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00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:34,359
Speaker 1: and in that case you can launch a firework. So

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00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,879
Speaker 1: this is where you get those big choreograph displays. Right,

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Speaker 1: You've got a essentially a program that has a beginning

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Speaker 1: to the end, and think of it like a video

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Speaker 1: on YouTube. You would you look at the video and

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Speaker 1: you'd see, oh, it's seven months, twelve twelve seconds long.

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Speaker 1: I want to see what happens at minute three and

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Speaker 1: and twelve seconds and you go straight to that point

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00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,200
Speaker 1: and you look at that frame. Well, in this computer program,

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00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,399
Speaker 1: you would be able to see which switches were essentially

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00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:06,359
Speaker 1: being thrown electronically, not mechanically necessarily these days, and you

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00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,800
Speaker 1: could say, oh, all right, at that point, mortars seventeen

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Speaker 1: three and forty nine all fire. There's a roundel in

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00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,280
Speaker 1: the center, there's a chrysanthemum, and there's a pistol, and

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00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,200
Speaker 1: all three go up simultaneously to create the effect you're

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Speaker 1: going for. And you know exactly what's in which mortar.

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Speaker 1: You know, you program that ends. You put them there. Yeah,

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00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:27,919
Speaker 1: you put them there, and you say to the computer

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Speaker 1: program this is the thing that's in this other thing,

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00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,240
Speaker 1: and you you cut and create your fuses. Fuse technology

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00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 1: also has a lot to do with how all of

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Speaker 1: this is going to go off. And fuses are just

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00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,320
Speaker 1: really basic things if you've never created one yourself, that

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00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,359
Speaker 1: are made of some kind of fuel um that's coated

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00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,720
Speaker 1: or or possibly soaked or infused with some kind of oxidizer,

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00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 1: and the exact materials and ratios of materials that you

385
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,120
Speaker 1: use are going to give you these these different time effects,

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00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,280
Speaker 1: right whether or not it will burn at say, you

387
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,400
Speaker 1: could have the same same length of fuse and one

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00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 1: of them might take fifteen seconds to burn all the

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00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 1: way through, and the other one might burn all the

390
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 1: way through in three seconds. Again, it all depends upon

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00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,360
Speaker 1: the the stuff you've put into that fuse, the oxidizers

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00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,560
Speaker 1: and any other kind of fuel you've imbued the fuse with.

393
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 1: So uh, once you know the physics and assuming your

394
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,480
Speaker 1: chemistry is good, you can have very consistent results from

395
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 1: one firework to the next. So that assumes a lot.

396
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 1: It means that you have to be very consistent and

397
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 1: all the ingredients you use. You have to be consistent

398
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,120
Speaker 1: in the mixtures, the proportions you're using, as well as

399
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,439
Speaker 1: consistent in the placement of stars and the fuses that

400
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,880
Speaker 1: you use. But if you are, if you're really good

401
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,200
Speaker 1: about that, then you know how far the thing is

402
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 1: gonna fly based upon the amount of lift charge in

403
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: it and it's weight, because that's the two things that

404
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: are going to determine how far projectile flies is how

405
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 1: heavy is it and how much thrust are you giving it.

406
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: Then you would also be able to determine when it's

407
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,159
Speaker 1: going to explode based upon the type of few is

408
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 1: that leads to that verset charge. So once you know

409
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,919
Speaker 1: these things, you can start to work backward. Right, So,

410
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,399
Speaker 1: let's say that you have a piece of music that

411
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,120
Speaker 1: you that you particularly want to set your fireworks display too,

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00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:14,600
Speaker 1: and since I'm a huge Disney fan and Disney is

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00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,760
Speaker 1: famous for this, Let's say it's when you wish upon

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00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: a star and when you hear the words star, Clearly

415
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 1: you want to have a starburst effect, right, You want

416
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: to have the gorgeous starburst effects of the crowd is

417
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 1: ooing and eying right at the right moment. So what

418
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 1: you would do is you would take that song and

419
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: you would look at the time stamp for when the

420
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 1: word star is mentioned. From that time step, you start

421
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: to work backward and you say, all right, based upon

422
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: when this happens in the song, when does that burst

423
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 1: charge need to ignite? And then working backwards from that point,

424
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 1: you know you know when the burst charge needs to

425
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:50,960
Speaker 1: ignite so that you get the effect you want. You

426
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: then say, all right, well i want it to be

427
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: at this particular height and I'm firing it from this

428
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,880
Speaker 1: particular location. So based on that, you know the distance

429
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: that the projectile has to know so they can be

430
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 1: at the right height and and explode at the right time.

431
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: That tells you how large a lift charge you need

432
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 1: to get the projectile there, and how quickly that quick

433
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 1: burning fuse needs to burn in order for it to

434
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 1: ignite at what time you need to push or push

435
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:19,119
Speaker 1: the button or have it automatically exactly. So again you

436
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 1: just work backwards. You know, you know when you want

437
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 1: the effect to happen, so then you work backwards to

438
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: find out when it has to initiate that are that

439
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: fuse burning for the first time. So it actually is

440
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: is pretty easy in that respect, but it does require

441
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,840
Speaker 1: that you have a very good knowledge of how the

442
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,879
Speaker 1: physics works, so that and and it also requires that

443
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: those fireworks are consistently made the chemistry correctly right, So

444
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: that way when you use all right, we're going to

445
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,680
Speaker 1: use firework number seven, this this particular type of firework

446
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 1: every single time, because I mean, like Walt Disney, the

447
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 1: Disney Parks, they do these these fireworks displays nearly every night,

448
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: particularly in the summer. So then that means it has

449
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 1: to be exactly right each time. So the fireworks have

450
00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: to be consistent and they have to be ignited at

451
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 1: the the same time the consistent time throughout each of

452
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,440
Speaker 1: these displays. But it's really pretty cool. Um Also, you

453
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: might wonder what exactly is making that boom noise. Yeah, well,

454
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 1: we've been talking a little bit about expanding gases, and

455
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: that's that's basically it the the the expansion of this

456
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: stuff in the firework displaces a pretty large quantity of air.

457
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,440
Speaker 1: Air has to go somewhere, so it ripples that word

458
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 1: really fast, right, It's essentially a shock wave, So that's

459
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: what makes the boom. Yeah. So of course the more

460
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,399
Speaker 1: black powder you can pack into a small space, the

461
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 1: bigger the boom. Again, it has to be compact because

462
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: if it's just loose, then it just it just burns.

463
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,119
Speaker 1: It burns really fast. In fact, there are a lot

464
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,240
Speaker 1: of people who get really picky about the terms uh,

465
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,840
Speaker 1: igniting versus exploding, because they say, well, technically, gunpowder just

466
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 1: burns really really really fast. It's not truly explosive. Yeah,

467
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 1: but if you were to put it in a very

468
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: compact area, then you get that explosion because of the

469
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:17,400
Speaker 1: rapid combustion. So, uh, we've really kind of covered all

470
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 1: the basics um about you know, how these things work, uh,

471
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 1: the way that you would coordinate stuff. But we've still

472
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,879
Speaker 1: got some fun, little goofy trivial facts that I wanted

473
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,919
Speaker 1: to cover. And so back in n I mentioned this

474
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,160
Speaker 1: a little bit. Disneyland introduced its first fireworks show Uh.

475
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: It was called Fantasy in the Sky and Walt Disney

476
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 1: came up with this idea, or actually asked the imagineers

477
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 1: to come up with an idea of how do you

478
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: keep people in the park after it gets dark? And

479
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: I guess this is why to this day Disney uses

480
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 1: fireworks displays almost nightly. Yeah. Well, it turned out to

481
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 1: be one of those things that really really worked well.

482
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 1: People would stay in the park longer, which ultimately means

483
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: they'd be willing to spend more money. I mean you,

484
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 1: the longer you keep someone there, the more like that

485
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: are gonna walk out with one of those lemonades and

486
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: Mickey dolls. They the more, the more Turos they'll eat.

487
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 1: Disney Turos are the best. You know. Their ice cream

488
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,119
Speaker 1: is pretty awesome too. Okay, I love Disney. But the anyway,

489
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: the launch site for the fireworks was backstage, and each

490
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: firework at that time had to be lit manually. There's

491
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: actually some video that you can watch of the various

492
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: people who had run back and forth and light the

493
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:31,479
Speaker 1: fireworks in the right sequence. Now, these early fireworks weren't

494
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,919
Speaker 1: choreographed the way the modern ones were. It wasn't like

495
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: you had park wide music and the fireworks went off

496
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: of the r but they were like really impressive displays. Uh.

497
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,040
Speaker 1: The displays, by the way, in Disney parks all depend

498
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: upon where which park you're in, because some of the

499
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 1: places like Disneyland, Paris and UH and Tokyo Disneyland and

500
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 1: Tokyo Disney See have specific limitations on how high fireworks

501
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,160
Speaker 1: could go. So the ones that you'll see in say

502
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: Florida and kell Fornia are different than the ones you

503
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: would see in these other parks because of those local

504
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 1: and since the days of Fantasy in the Sky, they've

505
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 1: they've kind of upgraded, Like I said, they've got the

506
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 1: fully choreographed ones. Yeah, yeah, with quite a few shells. Yeah.

507
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:20,879
Speaker 1: The Disney World's Wishes display has five hundred fifty seven

508
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: firing queues. They have more shells than that, but just

509
00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:28,719
Speaker 1: five fifty seven separate cueues in that one display, So

510
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: five fifty seven different times there are multiple shells going

511
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: up into the sky. That's incredibly complex. I think it's

512
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: like seventeen minutes long something like that. So it's a

513
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: really long display, so really impressive. I mean, obviously if

514
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 1: it were like three minutes long and there's five and

515
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 1: fifty seven firing cues. You would just be blind and

516
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 1: deaf by the end of it. Yeah, that sounds a

517
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: little bit whelming right there. Um. Uh, they've also engineered

518
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,200
Speaker 1: their their system to use compressed air for launches rather

519
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,920
Speaker 1: than that initial blast. We've been talking about an initial

520
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: blast forcing something out out of the firing too. But yeah,

521
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: but they're using compressed air, so it probably reduces their

522
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: cost a lot. You only need that that single explosion,

523
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: and it reduces the amount of smoke that's created. Yes,

524
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,199
Speaker 1: so they don't have to because obviously those early displays

525
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: E meant that once the display was over, you had

526
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 1: this kind of cloud of smoke hanging over the Magic Kingdom. Yeah,

527
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 1: so this way they are able to avoid that. Also,

528
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 1: I mean, you're just using giant air cannons. That's how

529
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: cool is that? Uh. In the United States, at least,

530
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: fireworks are technically classified as two different types of explosives

531
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,239
Speaker 1: at the same time because of the different effects. So

532
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: the fact that they have the one blast for propulsion

533
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: and the other blast that's truly the explosion. You have

534
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: low level and like an intermediate level of explosive classification

535
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 1: just for fireworks. It's two and one. As of the

536
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:55,640
Speaker 1: recording of this podcast, the largest fireworks display on record

537
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: happened on December in Dubai during what they exploded four

538
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy nine thousand, six hundred and fifty one fireworks.

539
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 1: It's stretched across about sixty miles of seafront. That is

540
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: an enormous fireworks display. Yeah, the the air would look

541
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: as if it were on fire. Yeah. Well, we kind

542
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 1: of have to because I don't think any wants enough

543
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: ford to do that. Uh no, no, and um and

544
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: and again we do. We do want to impress upon

545
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: you that that these are I mean beautiful and mirac

546
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: well not miraculous, they're technological. These are beautiful, technological feats

547
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 1: of engineering and physics and chemistry all at the same

548
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 1: time that will totally blow your fingers off. It will

549
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: super blow your fingers off, y'all. Don't play with them, no, Yeah,

550
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 1: and I know there are a lot of people who

551
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: do like their little backyard fireworks display or four fourth

552
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: of July here in the US, or or the New

553
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,120
Speaker 1: Year's Eve or whatever. Just just you know, stay sober. Folks.

554
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: Have a spotter, yeah, have have you know, your your

555
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 1: fire handling stuff like a fire extinguisher is always a

556
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: good idea. Just practice safety and be be alert, you know,

557
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: enjoy yourself, but don't make them at home, please. These

558
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: are these are explosives, and explosives are inherently dangerous, so

559
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: just be careful. Even sparklers are using black powder, right,

560
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: that's that's one of the mixers, and they have like

561
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 1: the little meal flakes like aluminum or whatever in them

562
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 1: so that they create those bright silver sparks. So these

563
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,800
Speaker 1: are things that will burn. They'll burn hot, they will

564
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 1: burn you if you're not careful, So just show caution.

565
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: Enjoy yourselves though, because these displays can be really really impressive. Um,

566
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 1: I like to let other people handle it for me, because,

567
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: knowing how excellent prone I am, I realized that it

568
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: would be a terrible idea to put me in charge

569
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: of any kind of fireworks display. Given the opportunity, I

570
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: will burn myself every time. I have to remind myself

571
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: approximately daily that hot things are hot, right exactly right?

572
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that thing that glowing red, Now I remember

573
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: why it's glowing red. It's because of that those excited

574
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: electrons the food times. Yeah, so anyway, that wraps up

575
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: our full treatment of fireworks, what makes them go, how

576
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 1: these things are coordinated? Uh, you know, there are very

577
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: complex computer programs that can not only program in a

578
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: full display, but simulate the display so you can see

579
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: what it will look like, um, you know, and an

580
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 1: animation to make sure that you're getting the effect you want.

581
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 1: These things are all, you know, they're basic implementations of

582
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,480
Speaker 1: technology that've been used for other things, but that it's

583
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: really cool to see them all come together to create

584
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 1: these very impressive group events. So thank you so much,

585
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: cyber Night for these suggestions. We greatly appreciate it. If

586
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 1: any of you out there have similar suggestions, maybe there's

587
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: some other topic that you you've always wondered how does

588
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: that work? Or you just have you know, a random

589
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: question like Jonathan, what colors shoes do you wear? I

590
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: will answer that, but I won't answer it now because

591
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: none of you have asked me. But if you have

592
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,480
Speaker 1: any questions, send them in. We we'd love to do

593
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: some episode. It's where we're just answering listener questions that

594
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily a full episode on their own. That'd be great,

595
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 1: but just let us know the way you do that.

596
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: By the way, I know I haven't gotten around to.

597
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: That is, send us an email or addresses tex stuff

598
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com, or drop us a

599
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: line on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumbler or handle at all.

600
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 1: Three is tech stuff H s W and we'll talk

601
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: to you again really soon. For more on this and

602
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, does it have stuff works dot

603
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 1: com