1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with text stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com cabin Welcome to Text Stuff. I'm 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren bok Obam and uh see 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: was looking at the topic here. Yeah, we got this 5 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: one from where did we had a tough job? Well, Lauren, 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: I believe that would be from listen. I really hope 7 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: that Nolan has sound staked that so that it was 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: not as loud as it was here in the studio. I, however, 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: hope he brought the Clackson back, because it's been a 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: long time since we've done that. Maybe a nice gentle 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: clack Yes, a sweet tinder Clackson carring Clackson. To be fair, though, 12 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: being loud and tacky is what this episode is going 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: to be all about. Right, that is true because our 14 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: friend cyber Knight, whose name I'm guessing is not actually 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: cyber Knight though if it is, congratulations, that is an 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: amazing name. Yeah, all I can say is that's all 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: that came with the email. Rode into us via email 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: and said, Uh, here's something I wondered as we were 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,559 Speaker 1: watching the traditional Independence Day festivities. What kind of tech 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: goes into a professional fireworks display? What do they use 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: to sink up the fireworks with music? Is their fancy 22 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: tech that goes into the creation of fireworks. Most of 23 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: the ones I saw tonight were the standard fair starbursts 24 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: that could change their colors. They burned, uh, though some 25 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: twinkled like little Christmas lights, flashing on and off in 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: a way I wouldn't expect from just a chemical burn. 27 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: I also remember years ago seeing some explode into a 28 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: smiley face, though I haven't seen as many of those recently. 29 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: I also wondered if there's anything that makes them safer, 30 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: though I'm not sure how safe you could ever make 31 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: something that's designed to explode if it hasn't been done already. 32 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: It might be cool to hear about how fireworks work. 33 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: And Cyber Knight, we are totally going to meet your expectations. 34 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: We are going to exceed them actually because they're all 35 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: attempt There's a lot of science there is. There's much, 36 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: many much sciences. In fact, I would say more science 37 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: than tech when you get down to it. However, it's 38 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: a technology of chemistry. Yeah that it is applied chemistry. 39 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: So there is and we have demonstrated on the show 40 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: previously that we like fire yeah, we did a full episode. 41 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: By the way, Sorry we didn't talk about compression fire starters. 42 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: I had it in my notes, did not fill it out, 43 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: and then we were taken to task for it rightfully, 44 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: So I would say, but we're gonna we're gonna be 45 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: very thorough as it turns out with fireworks, because while 46 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,239 Speaker 1: I was thinking about it, you know, just covering the basics, 47 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: the more I got into the chemistry, the more exciting 48 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: it was, the more interesting it was, and the more 49 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: I was like, well, I'm in for opinion for a pound. 50 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: If the government's going to see how I'm looking about, 51 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: you know, how to make gunpowder, might as well go 52 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: all in. So we're going to talk all about it. 53 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: Definitely one of those that were like, okay, what interesting 54 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: watch lists are we on? At least three or four more? 55 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: So we should probably define what a firework is for 56 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: just just the purposes of framing the discussion, right, sure, Well, 57 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: you know, at its base, I suppose it's something that 58 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: explodes for fun. Yes, that's pretty much it. A firework 59 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: is something that is explosive or combustible, and it's meant 60 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: for display purposes, to to create an impressive light display. 61 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: Or exactly. Yeah, you could get a firecracker, which is 62 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: really meant to make a lot of noise, or your 63 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: you might get a Roman candle, which doesn't make a 64 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: lot of noise, but it is very impressive light show. Uh. 65 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: And of course then there's all the stuff that also 66 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: falls into the fireworks category, including things like sparklers, that 67 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. We're mostly gonna be focusing on your 68 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: traditional fireworks, the stuff that you would go and look 69 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: up into the sky and see that that are launched 70 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: from something into the air exactly, so your your common 71 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: basic ingredients and fireworks are well. It's black powder, also 72 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: known as gunpowder, you know, pretty pretty simple, relatively simple. Uh. 73 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: It's traditionally made from sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, which 74 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: back in ye old days was called saltpeter. Yeah. And 75 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: back in the old days, he mostly got it from India, 76 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: at least if you were in the Western hemisphere, you 77 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: got it from India. Uh. In fact, I read an 78 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: interesting article published in eighteen sixty one by the New 79 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: York Times about the various powder mills, which we'll talk 80 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: about a little bit, uh in the United States, and 81 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: essentially it was running down how the South didn't have 82 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: enough powder mills for this Civil War thing to be 83 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: a big deal. As it turns out, four more years later, 84 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: they probably felt like that was maybe a little premature. 85 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: I think, yeah, that that turned out to be less correct. 86 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: I had hoped it was a certainly, you know, I 87 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: think it was an optimistic take on what ended up 88 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: being a very trying time in US history. But we're 89 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: going to focus on the fireworks. So speaking of history, 90 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: looking at the history of fireworks, this is stuff of legend. 91 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: As it turns out, Oh, certainly, because I mean, guess 92 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: what neither of us were around two to three thousand 93 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: years ago to observe and we don't have a real 94 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: way back machine. Yeah, I'm really sorry, guys, we have 95 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: been lying to you. It's just a special effect. It's 96 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: a really special effect. It is. It is very special. Unfortunately, 97 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: if someone has not actually documented it in a way 98 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: that is verifiable, we cannot in fact go back and 99 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: say exactly what happened. But we can tell you what 100 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 1: the legends are. Yes, there's a legend that over two 101 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: thousand years ago in China, a chef, a chef was 102 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: mixing together some charcoal, some sulfur and some saltpeter, and 103 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: those were all ingredients that were found in field kitchens. Okay, 104 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: so yeah, apparently just accidentally happened to measure these in 105 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: the or or mix these in the right amounts, because 106 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: it's not like you have equal parts of each ingredient. 107 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: It's actually more precise than that. We are going to 108 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: talk about that because I don't want you guys making gunpowder, 109 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: so don't try that at home. But this chef happened 110 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: upon this recipe, Yeah, discovered that if you compress it, 111 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: like if you put it into a container of some sort, 112 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: and then if it were too I don't know, come 113 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: into contact with any kind of flame, it blows up. 114 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,719 Speaker 1: I don't know if that chefs survived this discovery because 115 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: I don't even know if the chef's existed, So it's 116 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: all up in the air really literally possibly depending upon 117 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: where the gunpowder was. Now, if you look up the 118 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: history of fireworks online, like if you were to actually 119 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: go and put into your favorite search engine history of fireworks, 120 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: you're going to find a particular story told repeatedly throughout 121 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: numerous links, most of which go to like fireworks manufacturers 122 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: and as like many other research topics on the internet. 123 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: They all tell basically the same story and basically the 124 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 1: same wording without any particular reference to any real Yeah 125 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: there's no citation, right, yeah, so that so what the 126 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,119 Speaker 1: legend is is that there was a monk in China 127 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: named le Chian who lived around quote a thousand years ago. 128 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: That is always the way it's put. By the way, 129 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: around a thousand years ago. It's never given a date. 130 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: It just as a round a thousand years ago. And 131 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: so depending upon when this was written, you know, and anyway, 132 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: so much so many different sources use the exact wording. 133 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: I expect they all took their information from either the 134 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: same source or they're just borrowing it from each other. 135 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: It's just this big circle of people borrowing the same stuff. 136 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,679 Speaker 1: But the best scholarly source I could find simply said 137 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: that the first firecracker was made sometime around eleventh century 138 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: Common era in China, so eleventh century a d if 139 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: you prefer, in China. And this was the time when 140 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: Chinese alchemists were searching for something called the elixir of life. 141 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: And along the way, while trying to find this elixir 142 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: of life, they they mixed a bunch of different kinds 143 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: of stuff together and found lots of interesting things. Not 144 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: the their life, but as it turns out, they found 145 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: out about gunpowder. Just kind of like an lixer of death. 146 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: When you think about it, you can be certainly with 147 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: the with the incorrect application. So the first firecracker was 148 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: probably a parchment tube loosely filled with this mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, 149 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: and willow charcoal. Willow charcoal, by the way, one of 150 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: the more popular forms. As it turns out, you want 151 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: to use softer woods to create the charcoal because the 152 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: harder woulds tend to create too much ash. I learned 153 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: that while I was doing all this research. Now, once 154 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: these things were invented, they started to spread throughout the 155 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: world gradually, usually through trade. Uh. Sometime between twelve thirty 156 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: five and twelve nine, d Roger Bacon began to experiment 157 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: with an early form of black powder. This was again 158 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: stuff that had probably been brought to the Western world 159 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: through trade, yeah, mostly through Arabic traders. Most likely the 160 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: story goes that Marco Polo brought some over, but it's 161 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: much more likely that it was Arabic traders well before 162 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: Marco Polo's journeys. But at any rate Bacon's work would 163 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: lead to the development of what we know as gunpowder today. 164 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: Yes he would. He would sort of refine this mixture, 165 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: finding the right proportions of mixing these ingredients together to 166 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: get something that would work very well if you wanted to, uh, 167 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: you know, launch something at somebody, like say a cannon ball. Sure, 168 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: because if you mix all of these things together, you 169 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: get a good bright flash, and if you compress them beforehand, 170 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: you get a big boom as well. Yep, yep. Otherwise, 171 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: like if you've ever seen those videos of or films 172 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: of people taking the old timey photographs with the flash powder, 173 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: where it just it just lights up, and that was 174 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:44,960 Speaker 1: how they created a flash since they didn't have the 175 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: capacitors to make up a flashing light bulb. That's what 176 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,319 Speaker 1: gunpowder does. If it's just out in the open. You've 177 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: probably seen this. It's you know, it's also really popular 178 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: in like cartoons and stuff. You see the long trail 179 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: of gunpowder and exactly so that really is how it 180 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: just burns really really quickly. Now, the gunpowder industry and 181 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: fireworks industry are very closely linked together. Improvements in developing 182 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: gunpowder and the methodology for producing it were ported over 183 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: to work in fireworks as well, and early fireworks displays 184 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: were developed in China and India for religious festivals. Uh, 185 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: there aren't really written accounts of how these fireworks spread 186 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: throughout the world. But again we think that Arabic traders 187 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: probably brought this stuff over into Europe and the Europeans said, Wow, 188 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: that's amazing, that's awesome, let's bloss stuff up here too. Yeah. 189 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: And in fact, for a long time they were importing 190 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: this stuff from the East, and in fact would even 191 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 1: higher experts from the East to come and do the 192 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: displays in in Europe. It would only be in the 193 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,839 Speaker 1: late Middle Ages early Renaissance when you started seeing Europeans 194 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: try and take on this responsibility themselves. Now, by the 195 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: Italian Renaissance, fireworks creators began to experiment with adding extra 196 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: ingredients to mixtures to produce different colors of light, so 197 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: for example, adding copper to create blue light. We'll talk 198 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: more about adding color to fireworks a bit later. So 199 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 1: the thing is, if you want to learn more about 200 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: what the displays back in the Middle Ages were like, 201 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: there are only a few accounts, a lot of them 202 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: though come from England, because it turns out the English 203 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: were bananas over this stuff. The Italians and Germans were 204 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,559 Speaker 1: working really hard on improving fireworks technology, and the English 205 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: were enjoying the heck out of it. So one of 206 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: the accounts says that during the wedding of Henry the 207 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: Seventh also known as Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York 208 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:38,319 Speaker 1: in four six, there were fireworks displays. Others talk more 209 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: about Elizabeth's coronation, so there's a little bit of a 210 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: argument there. The same is true for Henry the eighth 211 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: wedding uh and Boleyn, which was a wife number two. 212 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: I think I think she had a good head on 213 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: her shoulders. Uh not for long spoiler art James Anthony 214 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: Froud wrote that there were quote wild men and casting 215 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: fire and making a hideous noise end quote, which I 216 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,959 Speaker 1: think is a fantastic description of fireworks. When I was 217 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: a kid, I hated them because I didn't like loud noise, 218 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: and even just seeing the fireworks burst in the sky 219 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: made me my anxiety levels go up because I knew 220 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: a loud noise was coming right. I remember having one 221 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: year where I was really upset by them. Like I 222 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: had loved them and then suddenly was like that's loud 223 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: and I'm against it. Yeah, I've come back around now, 224 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: but for a long time I was. I was certainly 225 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:32,200 Speaker 1: the person who was like, I don't want to be 226 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:37,319 Speaker 1: here when the fireworks start anyway the record, Yeah, yeah, 227 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: most dogs I've encountered shared my feeling. I think I 228 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: finally evolved beyond dog stage. So Henry the eighth and 229 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: Anne berleyn had a daughter, Elizabeth, Yeah, somewhat famous. Yes, 230 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 1: it became Queen of England and uh sat on her 231 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: thorn for many years throne throne. Sorry, it was just 232 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: misreading my notes. But no, Liz with obviously one of 233 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: the most influential monarchs of all time, really, and she 234 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: she loved the sparklies. She did she she she created 235 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: a position for its Firemaster of England. Um, it would 236 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: be I think it was after in the ruling of 237 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: James the First when that position came along with a knighthood. 238 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,960 Speaker 1: At any rate, you had people who suddenly really wanted 239 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: to pursue the craft, to become the best at it 240 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: in order to land this cushy job of being the 241 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: fire Master of England, Because you would imagine that comes 242 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: with some sweet you know, bonuses like money. Yeah, And 243 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,559 Speaker 1: so a lot of people were trying new and different 244 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: things to kind of impress the queen. Yeah. Yeah. According 245 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: to some accounts, one of the things you might expect 246 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: to see at a truly outrageous display would be a 247 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: dragon with paper mache scales that was loaded up with 248 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: fireworks so that it would breathe fire. It would have 249 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: here to be breathing fire, and sometimes they would have 250 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: more than one, and then you would have dragon fights. Yes, 251 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: and then maybe one of the women's up catching on 252 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: fire and the other one is slightly less on fire, 253 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: and so that's the one that wins. Um. But they 254 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: would battle one another. And so you read about this 255 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: kind of stuff, you're like, wow, these these had to 256 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: be pretty spectacular. And then you also think, remember they 257 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: had no automated way of doing this. There was probably 258 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: some poor jerk who had a match stick or some 259 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: form of torture something that was lighting this stuff manually 260 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: and then trying to get the heck away from it 261 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: before he burnt up. Yeah, or possibly a couple of 262 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: guys on the ground like with sticks holding these things up. 263 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: I'm a little bit terrified about the entire concept. But 264 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: but yeah, no, they were very impressive. Shakespeare even wrote 265 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: wrote about them in some of his plays, Right, Romeo 266 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: and juliet There is a quote that says, these violent 267 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die like 268 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: fire and powder, which as they kiss consume. Now, in 269 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 1: that case, of course, he's referring to the lover's Romeo 270 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 1: and Juliette, and the passion they have for one another, 271 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: and he's likening it to a fireworks display, which you know, 272 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: has been a pretty powerful image that has been repeated 273 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: at nauseum ever since. The whole thing where the two 274 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: lovers kiss and then you see the fireworks going off 275 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: in the background very much. It's interesting that it seems 276 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: to have originated with Shakespeare as many so many things 277 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: have also, fireworks were deemed to be an illegal possession 278 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: for regular citizens right around Uh yeah, that that's about 279 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: when a certain persona now publicly known because of a 280 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: certain movie in comic book series. Yes, guy Fox got 281 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: into some trouble with the gunpowder plot. Yes, he was 282 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: part of a conspiracy to blow up the houses of 283 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: Parliament by storing something like thirty something casks of gunpowder 284 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: underneath the We're gonna tunnel underneath the Houses of Parliament 285 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: that stuff in there and then light it and blow 286 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: it up. And the conspirators were caught before they could 287 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: execute their plan. And Guy Fox himself, who was not 288 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: necessarily the ringleader, he was one of the members um, 289 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: was really made an example of in some of the 290 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: most horrifying ways you can imagine. Now, granted he was 291 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: planning on committing a terrible act, but they did a 292 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: really terrible act to him and drawn quartered. And of 293 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: course they had Guy Fox Day for you know, the 294 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: early Guy Fox days involved lots of burning of Guy 295 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: Fox and effigy um. And then there there's a whole 296 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: story there that's amazing, but stuff you missed in history 297 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: class would really be the best place to cover that. 298 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: And I'm sure they have actually, I mean, I feel 299 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: like it's likely. Yeah, these these days we have the 300 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: charming anonymous masks, Yes, based off exactly. So at that 301 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: point it was made illegal for the common citizen to 302 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: possess fireworks. The only people who are allowed were specifically 303 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: given that that responsibility by the crown. So that's kind 304 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: of the early early history. But let's talk about what's 305 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,679 Speaker 1: actually going on inside of firework, what is what is 306 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: making it work? Well, this is mostly chemistry, but let's 307 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: let's talk about black powder, since that is that is 308 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: the basic what is going on here. So we talked 309 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: about sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter or potassium nitrate. Uh, you 310 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,640 Speaker 1: might wonder what are these things actually doing within gunpowders. 311 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: So sulfur and charcoal are acting as fuel, right, and 312 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: the potassium nitrate is acting as an oxidizer. So oxidizers 313 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: in this sense are the chemicals that fuel requires in 314 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: order to burn. If you remember the great triangle of 315 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: what was required to make fire, you have to have fuel, 316 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: you have to have oxygen, and you have to have heat. 317 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: Those are the three things that together will allow you 318 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: to have fire. And if you're lacking any of those, 319 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: you're not going to get it. If you have just 320 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: oxygen and fuel and but not heat, it's not going 321 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,239 Speaker 1: to happen. Same thing with just oxygen and fire. You've 322 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: got to have some fuel there. So oxidizers are chemicals 323 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: that are really good at getting oxygen into the mixing. Yes, 324 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: and in fact, potassium nitrate is incredibly good at this. 325 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: So let's look at these ingredients each on their own. 326 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: If you look at just charcoal, which is essentially carbon 327 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: and you want to try and burn it, if you 328 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: were to light a match and just hold it to charcoal, 329 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: it doesn't really ignite very well, yeah, kind of. It 330 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: kind of smolders and smokes, and and if you get 331 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:25,880 Speaker 1: it hot enough, like it will start to burn. Certainly 332 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: they'll start to glow, doesn't. You don't get a lot 333 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: of flame out of it. You've probably done this at home, 334 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: perhaps on a charcoal grill, or when you have burned 335 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: a log down to the coals. Yeah, you've got those 336 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: those coals are that's charcoal that's just glowing because of 337 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: the heat that's coming through. We'll talk about the actual 338 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 1: mechanism of glowing a little bit later too. So again, 339 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: you don't get a lot of ignition, not not in 340 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: a lot of flame, and certainly not explosive ignition yet 341 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: probably unless you've done something very strange, right, unless unless 342 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,360 Speaker 1: your charcoal has got some other funky ingredients in it, 343 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: or I guess you've compressed it a lot. Maybe, Yeah, 344 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 1: that would be incredible. Eventually you would get a diamond. So, 345 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: but sulfur it burns at a lower temperature than charcoal 346 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: does that carbon does. It ignites more easily, but not 347 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: really at room temperature. So if you had a little crucible, 348 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: let's say, a little ceramic crucible filled with some some sulfur, 349 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: and you put a match to it, it wouldn't really 350 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: light up. But again, if you were to heat it, 351 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,880 Speaker 1: it will start to melt, and then it will burn 352 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: if exposed to even higher temperatures, and that gives off 353 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: sulfur dioxide, which, by the way, not good to breathe in. 354 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: It can irritate your lung. One of the many reasons 355 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 1: why you shouldn't melt sulfur at home. Yeah. Yeah, these 356 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:47,119 Speaker 1: these things like charcoal that's fairly fairly benign as things go. 357 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,439 Speaker 1: Sulfur a little bit less so, potassium nitrate less so 358 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: than either of the other two. Yeah, this is what 359 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: increases that rate of combustion significantly when it's added to 360 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: a mixture of carbon and sulfur, again in the correct amounts. 361 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: So when it's mixed properly, that combination willing nite and 362 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,199 Speaker 1: burn really really quickly. Um. And it is it is, 363 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: the of course, the traditional oxidizer in this combination of 364 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: stuff that goes into black powder, but lots of other 365 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: things can be used, for example, potassium chlorate, potassium perchlorate, 366 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:22,640 Speaker 1: or barium nitrate and UH. As of twenty eleven, organizations 367 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,719 Speaker 1: from like Walt Disney Company to the US Department of 368 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,320 Speaker 1: Defense have started looking at green alternatives to all of 369 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: these oxidizers. UH and I say green, and you go, like, 370 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: what you're making stuff explode? How green does it need 371 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: to be? But the thing is is that um okay. 372 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: So it turns out the dangerous chemicals can present health 373 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: and environmental hazards. UM and potassium nitrate specifically is a 374 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: really common ingredient in herbsides. Potassium chlorate is a hearsh 375 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: ingredient in disinfectants. Potassium perchlorate can disrupt the production of 376 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: hormones and the thyroid and harmon born babies, and a 377 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: barium nitrate can interfere with heart and breathing functions. So 378 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,919 Speaker 1: none of that is good fun times and and so 379 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 1: a lot of research has been put in recent years 380 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 1: into trying to figure out better ways of burning stuff 381 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: that isn't releasing these chemicals into the environment and showering 382 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: them over crowds of fawning onlookers or you know, into 383 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: your water supply, or for example, potassium chlorate is a 384 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: great example. Potassium chlorate is this stuff a great example 385 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: of a bad, bad ingredient as as opposed to one 386 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: that's green. Potassium chlorate ends up creating a more explosive 387 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 1: burn than say potassium nitrate does. Potassium nitrate is already 388 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: pretty impressive, but if you ever watch someone create potassium 389 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: chlorate a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium chlorate in 390 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 1: the right amounts and then light it, it lights even. 391 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: It burns even faster than the regular black powder mixture, 392 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: and so it's often used in something called a burst charge, 393 00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: which we'll talk about later. But like you said, it 394 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: leaves some pretty nasty stuff behind chlorate. If you look 395 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: at that word chlorate, you realize that chlorine is one 396 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,239 Speaker 1: of those things that's involved in this and that's one 397 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: of the byproducts as you get this chlorine released as 398 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: as one of the the remnants after the chemical reaction 399 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: that happens when you ignite this stuff. Chlorine is not 400 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: good stuff, folks. You don't don't want just pure chlorine 401 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,639 Speaker 1: all over the place. It's it's toxic. So you know, 402 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,880 Speaker 1: that's one of those things where uh a lot more 403 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: research needs to be done in order to make the 404 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: stuff really safe. Right now, two things, sodium parietate and 405 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: potassium parietate are starting to move into use as substitutes, 406 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: more clean substitute for the traditional one, because the trick 407 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: is that you have to find something that's going to 408 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,360 Speaker 1: facilitate this rapid burning. If you don't have that, then 409 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: obviously you can't do the fireworks, at least not the 410 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: way we're accustomed to. Um. So we'll we'll, you know, 411 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: hope that that kind of stuff gets further distributed throughout 412 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: the entire industry so that we have a less uh 413 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,240 Speaker 1: you know, negative impact on the environment and potentially on 414 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: on the viewers of fireworks displays or just the people 415 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: who happen to live around those areas. Oh yeah, this 416 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: this also goes into I mean, the Department of Defense 417 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 1: wasn't involved in that because of the fireworks displays necessarily, 418 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: so much as this is useful also for anything else 419 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: that you're using gunpowder for, which for the Department of 420 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,439 Speaker 1: Defense as many things, and you know, trying to protect 421 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: the lives of our munitions workers and also our our 422 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: soldiers and troops and everyone else. Absolutely, so how is 423 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: it made? Don't try this at home, yes, do not. 424 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: This is one of those things that if you are 425 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: if you're part of a lab and the lab has 426 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:41,199 Speaker 1: the facilities to do it, and you can make it 427 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,680 Speaker 1: in small amounts, it's a very interesting process. But this 428 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 1: is not something for you to ever try on your 429 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: own because if you got the mixture either just right 430 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: or just wrong, bad things can happen. But generally speaking, 431 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,639 Speaker 1: here's what the processes, and I'm not again going to 432 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: explain the specific amounts. First we have to reduce each 433 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: ingredient to fine grains of powder. And you would want 434 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: to do this separately, right this, You don't mix them 435 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: together first. So you get your charcoal and you mash 436 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: it up, so you've got charcoal powder. You get your sulfur. 437 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: You make sure you you pound out any any clumps 438 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: so that you just get a fine powder. Same thing 439 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: with your saltpeter. You want to make sure all of 440 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:20,199 Speaker 1: that stuff is as fine as you possibly can make it. 441 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: Then you mix those ingredients together with a little water 442 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: or some other liquid for example. And I'm not making 443 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: this up. One of the liquids I saw was stale urine. 444 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: Stale urine, stale urine specifically stale Yes, I am not joking, 445 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: because it allows for a more consistent burn. I um yeah, 446 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: all right. So anyway, you mix it in with this 447 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: liquid to help these different ingredients bind together. Usually you 448 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,440 Speaker 1: have some sort of binding agent, what, some something that's 449 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: going to help them stick together in the right in 450 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 1: the right amounts. Salt peter, as it turns out, was 451 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: really soluble and it'll in all those nice little spaces 452 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: and charcoal pretty easily. Charcoal has a lot of surface areas, 453 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 1: so it's it's a good mix. Then you let the 454 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: mixture dries, becomes kind of like a cake like mass. 455 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,159 Speaker 1: It's solidifying like a hard biscuit. Yeah, it's like a 456 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: red velvet cake, right, Yeah, it's it's much more dense, 457 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: also much more likely to explode than your traditional red velvet. Yes. 458 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: You then crush this dry matt mass with something that 459 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: will totally not cause sparks. Please. Yeah, you don't use 460 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: any nothing that's gonna potentially create a spark. So usually 461 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: it's ceramic or non sparking metals or something along those 462 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: lines of stone, just regular stone, not like Flynn steel, 463 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: would be a terrible idea to turn it into a powder. Um. 464 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: This is one of the reasons why it's challenging to 465 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,719 Speaker 1: make this stuff in huge amounts, particularly for someone who 466 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,400 Speaker 1: doesn't have like a powder mill at their disposal. They 467 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: the accounts I read were especially for people who are 468 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: like uh, um, military recreationist people, people who create, uh 469 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,439 Speaker 1: they recreate like the famous battles, and they want to 470 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: have black powder muskets. They're not firing musket balls, but 471 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: they want to be able to have that big loud 472 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: bang smoke. Um they talk about making us to say, 473 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: it's a little hard if you want to make more 474 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: than say, ten pounds of the stuff at a time, 475 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,360 Speaker 1: like you know, keeping in mind that ten pounds of gunpowder, 476 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: especially if it's in a compact container, could be incredibly dangerous. 477 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,919 Speaker 1: I just had a very mild panic attack thinking about 478 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: any of the people that I personally know who dress 479 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:33,640 Speaker 1: up in costumes and run around the woods firing fake 480 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: guns at each other, having ten pounds of gunpowder at 481 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: your disposal. Yeah, it's uh. It certainly is one of 482 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 1: those things where you do need to know the best 483 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: practices to safely handle this stuff, because it really is 484 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: incredibly dangerous. But at that point in this process, you're done. 485 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: You've got your gunpowder. If you do want to make 486 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,359 Speaker 1: large quantities. How did those powder mills work that you 487 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: were mentioning earlier? So, yeah, you usually you would have 488 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: some sort of of bowl like surface, and then you'd 489 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: have a grinding wheel that would be powered either by 490 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,160 Speaker 1: horse power, manpower, or water wheel, that kind of thing. 491 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,200 Speaker 1: So it's a mill, you know, the kind of mill 492 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: that you would see for any other sort of thing, 493 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 1: grinding grain, for example. And what you would do is 494 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: you would you would mix all these ingredients together and 495 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: then you would put that in the mill for it 496 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,920 Speaker 1: to grind up into the proper fine powder that you 497 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: would need to use as black powder. Again, you would 498 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: have to make sure that all the equipment you had 499 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,200 Speaker 1: was not likely to cause a spark al right, wood 500 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: or stone or something very non spark making. Yeah, it's 501 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 1: it's hard, non spark worthy. It's kind of hard to 502 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: to put it into words properly. It is incombustible. Yes, 503 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,399 Speaker 1: that's good. One other interesting feature that a lot of 504 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: these powder mills had was that at least one wall, 505 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: sometimes more than one was specifically built weaker than the 506 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: other walls. The other walls would support more of the 507 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: structure's weight. H so that if everything in the factory exploded, 508 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: it would be easier for people to get out well, 509 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: or easier for firefighters to get in. Uh yeah, because 510 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: I mean if you are caught inside that building when 511 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: there's an explosion, there's probably parts of you got out. Um. Yeah, 512 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: it's it was meant so that it could open up 513 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:25,400 Speaker 1: an easy pathway for any reactionary measures measures, whether that's 514 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: putting out fires or you know, dealing with the aftermath. 515 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: I mean, you didn't necessarily have people inside these things 516 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: all the time while they were grinding anyway, but it 517 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: was meant as this way. Like let's say, if you 518 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: have it as a water wheel, you know it means 519 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: you're near a source of water running water, you might 520 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: have the wall that is closest to the running water blowout, 521 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: so that way, if there is a fire, you can 522 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: you've got the water right there, so you can start 523 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: a bucket brigade type thing. No, that's why I kind 524 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: of had a face upon a moment thinking about that one. 525 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: But now that you mentioned it, really that's I sort 526 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: of want all of my buildings to be structurally we 527 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: are on one side. If nothing else that I could 528 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: just right out of anything, that would be fair. Yeah. 529 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: There are so many times where I I just think 530 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: that I need to have the Jonathan shaped dust cloud 531 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: and then the wall the Jonathan shaped hole in the 532 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: wall where I've made my escape. So these days, we 533 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: don't have so many water wheels kicking around in large 534 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: factory facilities. We do have some machine versions that will 535 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: do the crushing, but again, it's really tricky because you 536 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: have to make sure that that machinery is not going 537 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: to have any kind of sparking element to it. So 538 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: in other words, the motors can't be sparking, not just 539 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: the rollers or whatever. So you have to make sure 540 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: that the materials you're using the surface and the rollers 541 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: that are doing the crushing are not going to create 542 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: any sparks, and furthermore, that they're going to be cool 543 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: enough to not risk igniting. Yeah, exactly. So it's it's 544 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 1: one of those things that really took a lot of 545 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: of effort to get it right so that it could 546 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: be created safely, or at least as safely as possible. 547 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: Accidents still happen I mean, you've probably heard of accidents, 548 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: whether they were in facilities that were processing black powder 549 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: or a fireworks warehouse. These things do happen, so it 550 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: really drives home the fact that you've got to treat 551 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 1: it with respect. Sure, sure, Okay, So once you've got 552 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: your black powder, how do you assemble the fireworks themselves? Okay? 553 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: So basically, and we'll talk more about this in in 554 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,959 Speaker 1: our part two about fireworks, but basically what you need 555 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: to do is do it by hand because automated versions 556 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: again tend to have equipment that could create a spark. 557 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: And so you've most fireworks are are handmade, hand packed. 558 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: So if you if you were to take a typical firework, 559 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: like a big one one that's used in a professional display, 560 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: these things tend to weigh several pounds. They can be 561 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: in lots of different shapes. It all depends upon the 562 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: effect you want. We'll talk about that in the next 563 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: episode two. But if you were to cut it in half, 564 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: you would see that you would have a core of 565 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: this black powder, whether it was made with potassium nitrate 566 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 1: or potassium chlorate or some other oxidizer involved, but the 567 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,480 Speaker 1: black powder would be at the core and you would 568 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: have these other little elements inside the firework that are 569 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 1: meant to be projected outward after the core explode, all right, 570 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: probably suspended in clay or something staple like that, right, right, 571 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: And then you would also have another at the base 572 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: of your projectile. Uh, if you have in fact a 573 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: two stage firework. We'll talk about the different options in 574 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 1: the next episode. But at the base of your firework, 575 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: you would also have a lift charge which would be 576 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: ignited first another little gunpowder puck. Yeah, so you would 577 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 1: have that at the base of it, and that's what 578 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,959 Speaker 1: would provide it the energy to lift out of the mortar. 579 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 1: The basically the tube you have to fire it off 580 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: into the sky. So it's it's really a two chamber 581 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: at least a minimum of two chamber approaches if you're 582 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: using the traditional method of launching. All though, the mouse 583 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: House has come up with a totally different way of 584 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: launching fireworks that doesn't require that separate blast chamber the 585 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: lift chamber, but we'll talk about that in our next episode. Yeah, 586 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: because although we did not mention it at the top 587 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 1: of this episode because we weren't entirely sure how long 588 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: we were going to run here, but we seem to 589 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: have run more or less to the end of of 590 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: our time today, so so we are going to cut 591 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 1: off here and when we come back in the next episode, 592 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how how technicians add color 593 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: into this sort of thing, how they create the various shapes, 594 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: the various effects, like the smiley face that that cyber 595 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: Knight mentioned. I'll talk about that a little bit. We'll 596 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: also give you some ideas of how the really big 597 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: the like the choreographed what displays work put off UM 598 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: We'll talk about the Forced Disney because that they're one 599 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: of the um i'd say, one of the pioneers in 600 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,160 Speaker 1: that space, Like they really choreograph it down so that 601 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: their fireworks displays try and tell a story. So we'll 602 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: talk about how they manage that. And then though I 603 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 1: think we've got some fun like just random bits of 604 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: trivia that I found interesting that didn't really fit in 605 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: other parts of the episode, So definitely stay tuned. We're 606 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: going to talk all about that in our next episode. 607 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: And if you guys have any suggestions for future episodes 608 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, any sort of topic at all, like 609 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,120 Speaker 1: you've always wanted to know a question or maybe you 610 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: just want to ask us a question that isn't necessarily 611 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: a full episode. It's just something you've always wanted to know. 612 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: Let us know. I would love to hear your thoughts. 613 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: You can write us our email addresses tech stuff at 614 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, or you can drop us 615 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumbler or handle at 616 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: all three is tech Stuff, H. S W and Lauren 617 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon for 618 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: more on this and basands of other topics. Because it 619 00:33:49,560 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: has staff works dot com