WEBVTT - TechStuff Lights Some Fireworks 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.200 Get in touch with technology with text stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.680 Stuff Works dot Com cabin Welcome to Text Stuff. I'm 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.440 Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren bok Obam and uh see 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.680 was looking at the topic here. Yeah, we got this 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.400 one from where did we had a tough job? Well, Lauren, 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:31.160 I believe that would be from listen. I really hope 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.199 that Nolan has sound staked that so that it was 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.040 not as loud as it was here in the studio. I, however, 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.080 hope he brought the Clackson back, because it's been a 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.640 long time since we've done that. Maybe a nice gentle 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:46.960 clack Yes, a sweet tinder Clackson carring Clackson. To be fair, though, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.120 being loud and tacky is what this episode is going 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.320 to be all about. Right, that is true because our 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.680 friend cyber Knight, whose name I'm guessing is not actually 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.520 cyber Knight though if it is, congratulations, that is an 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.160 amazing name. Yeah, all I can say is that's all 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.560 that came with the email. Rode into us via email 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.960 and said, Uh, here's something I wondered as we were 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.559 watching the traditional Independence Day festivities. What kind of tech 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.200 goes into a professional fireworks display? What do they use 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.800 to sink up the fireworks with music? Is their fancy 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.920 tech that goes into the creation of fireworks. Most of 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.680 the ones I saw tonight were the standard fair starbursts 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.039 that could change their colors. They burned, uh, though some 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.440 twinkled like little Christmas lights, flashing on and off in 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.440 a way I wouldn't expect from just a chemical burn. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.240 I also remember years ago seeing some explode into a 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.280 smiley face, though I haven't seen as many of those recently. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.720 I also wondered if there's anything that makes them safer, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.080 though I'm not sure how safe you could ever make 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.800 something that's designed to explode if it hasn't been done already. 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.680 It might be cool to hear about how fireworks work. 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:56.320 And Cyber Knight, we are totally going to meet your expectations. 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.240 We are going to exceed them actually because they're all 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.040 attempt There's a lot of science there is. There's much, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.720 many much sciences. In fact, I would say more science 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.120 than tech when you get down to it. However, it's 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:12.320 a technology of chemistry. Yeah that it is applied chemistry. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.200 So there is and we have demonstrated on the show 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.560 previously that we like fire yeah, we did a full episode. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.880 By the way, Sorry we didn't talk about compression fire starters. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.560 I had it in my notes, did not fill it out, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.320 and then we were taken to task for it rightfully, 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.760 So I would say, but we're gonna we're gonna be 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.720 very thorough as it turns out with fireworks, because while 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.239 I was thinking about it, you know, just covering the basics, 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.760 the more I got into the chemistry, the more exciting 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:42.400 it was, the more interesting it was, and the more 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.280 I was like, well, I'm in for opinion for a pound. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.120 If the government's going to see how I'm looking about, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.200 you know, how to make gunpowder, might as well go 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.680 all in. So we're going to talk all about it. 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.520 Definitely one of those that were like, okay, what interesting 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.720 watch lists are we on? At least three or four more? 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.560 So we should probably define what a firework is for 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.320 just just the purposes of framing the discussion, right, sure, Well, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.840 you know, at its base, I suppose it's something that 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.880 explodes for fun. Yes, that's pretty much it. A firework 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.680 is something that is explosive or combustible, and it's meant 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.480 for display purposes, to to create an impressive light display. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:23.760 Or exactly. Yeah, you could get a firecracker, which is 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.280 really meant to make a lot of noise, or your 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.520 you might get a Roman candle, which doesn't make a 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.600 lot of noise, but it is very impressive light show. Uh. 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.480 And of course then there's all the stuff that also 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.280 falls into the fireworks category, including things like sparklers, that 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.600 kind of stuff. We're mostly gonna be focusing on your 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.880 traditional fireworks, the stuff that you would go and look 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.320 up into the sky and see that that are launched 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:51.880 from something into the air exactly, so your your common 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:56.200 basic ingredients and fireworks are well. It's black powder, also 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:03.600 known as gunpowder, you know, pretty pretty simple, relatively simple. Uh. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:08.320 It's traditionally made from sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, which 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.800 back in ye old days was called saltpeter. Yeah. And 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.400 back in the old days, he mostly got it from India, 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.720 at least if you were in the Western hemisphere, you 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.560 got it from India. Uh. In fact, I read an 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:25.080 interesting article published in eighteen sixty one by the New 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.120 York Times about the various powder mills, which we'll talk 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.560 about a little bit, uh in the United States, and 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.320 essentially it was running down how the South didn't have 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.359 enough powder mills for this Civil War thing to be 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.680 a big deal. As it turns out, four more years later, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.520 they probably felt like that was maybe a little premature. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.239 I think, yeah, that that turned out to be less correct. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.200 I had hoped it was a certainly, you know, I 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.480 think it was an optimistic take on what ended up 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.520 being a very trying time in US history. But we're 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.680 going to focus on the fireworks. So speaking of history, 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.960 looking at the history of fireworks, this is stuff of legend. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.720 As it turns out, Oh, certainly, because I mean, guess 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.640 what neither of us were around two to three thousand 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.760 years ago to observe and we don't have a real 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.360 way back machine. Yeah, I'm really sorry, guys, we have 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:16.360 been lying to you. It's just a special effect. It's 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.040 a really special effect. It is. It is very special. Unfortunately, 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.719 if someone has not actually documented it in a way 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.320 that is verifiable, we cannot in fact go back and 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.240 say exactly what happened. But we can tell you what 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.279 the legends are. Yes, there's a legend that over two 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:37.320 thousand years ago in China, a chef, a chef was 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.800 mixing together some charcoal, some sulfur and some saltpeter, and 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:46.240 those were all ingredients that were found in field kitchens. Okay, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.880 so yeah, apparently just accidentally happened to measure these in 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.320 the or or mix these in the right amounts, because 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.920 it's not like you have equal parts of each ingredient. 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.320 It's actually more precise than that. We are going to 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.640 talk about that because I don't want you guys making gunpowder, 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.400 so don't try that at home. But this chef happened 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.520 upon this recipe, Yeah, discovered that if you compress it, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.440 like if you put it into a container of some sort, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.159 and then if it were too I don't know, come 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.240 into contact with any kind of flame, it blows up. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.719 I don't know if that chefs survived this discovery because 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.360 I don't even know if the chef's existed, So it's 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.839 all up in the air really literally possibly depending upon 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.279 where the gunpowder was. Now, if you look up the 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.279 history of fireworks online, like if you were to actually 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:39.760 go and put into your favorite search engine history of fireworks, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:44.520 you're going to find a particular story told repeatedly throughout 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.839 numerous links, most of which go to like fireworks manufacturers 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.839 and as like many other research topics on the internet. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.400 They all tell basically the same story and basically the 0:06:55.440 --> 0:07:00.719 same wording without any particular reference to any real Yeah 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.880 there's no citation, right, yeah, so that so what the 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.119 legend is is that there was a monk in China 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:11.120 named le Chian who lived around quote a thousand years ago. 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.280 That is always the way it's put. By the way, 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.000 around a thousand years ago. It's never given a date. 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:18.600 It just as a round a thousand years ago. And 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.800 so depending upon when this was written, you know, and anyway, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.840 so much so many different sources use the exact wording. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.240 I expect they all took their information from either the 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.480 same source or they're just borrowing it from each other. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.280 It's just this big circle of people borrowing the same stuff. 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.679 But the best scholarly source I could find simply said 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:41.160 that the first firecracker was made sometime around eleventh century 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.160 Common era in China, so eleventh century a d if 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.640 you prefer, in China. And this was the time when 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.280 Chinese alchemists were searching for something called the elixir of life. 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.160 And along the way, while trying to find this elixir 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.720 of life, they they mixed a bunch of different kinds 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.560 of stuff together and found lots of interesting things. Not 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.120 the their life, but as it turns out, they found 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.240 out about gunpowder. Just kind of like an lixer of death. 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.520 When you think about it, you can be certainly with 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.240 the with the incorrect application. So the first firecracker was 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.400 probably a parchment tube loosely filled with this mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.600 and willow charcoal. Willow charcoal, by the way, one of 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.640 the more popular forms. As it turns out, you want 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.560 to use softer woods to create the charcoal because the 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.600 harder woulds tend to create too much ash. I learned 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.160 that while I was doing all this research. Now, once 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.280 these things were invented, they started to spread throughout the 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.120 world gradually, usually through trade. Uh. Sometime between twelve thirty 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:45.160 five and twelve nine, d Roger Bacon began to experiment 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.679 with an early form of black powder. This was again 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.040 stuff that had probably been brought to the Western world 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:56.360 through trade, yeah, mostly through Arabic traders. Most likely the 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.920 story goes that Marco Polo brought some over, but it's 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.559 much more likely that it was Arabic traders well before 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.280 Marco Polo's journeys. But at any rate Bacon's work would 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.440 lead to the development of what we know as gunpowder today. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.199 Yes he would. He would sort of refine this mixture, 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:17.120 finding the right proportions of mixing these ingredients together to 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.480 get something that would work very well if you wanted to, uh, 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:26.480 you know, launch something at somebody, like say a cannon ball. Sure, 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.640 because if you mix all of these things together, you 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.720 get a good bright flash, and if you compress them beforehand, 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:33.960 you get a big boom as well. Yep, yep. Otherwise, 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.080 like if you've ever seen those videos of or films 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.920 of people taking the old timey photographs with the flash powder, 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:42.880 where it just it just lights up, and that was 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.960 how they created a flash since they didn't have the 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.840 capacitors to make up a flashing light bulb. That's what 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.319 gunpowder does. If it's just out in the open. You've 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.720 probably seen this. It's you know, it's also really popular 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.640 in like cartoons and stuff. You see the long trail 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.360 of gunpowder and exactly so that really is how it 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.280 just burns really really quickly. Now, the gunpowder industry and 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:06.520 fireworks industry are very closely linked together. Improvements in developing 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.920 gunpowder and the methodology for producing it were ported over 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.240 to work in fireworks as well, and early fireworks displays 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.880 were developed in China and India for religious festivals. Uh, 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.240 there aren't really written accounts of how these fireworks spread 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.760 throughout the world. But again we think that Arabic traders 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:29.200 probably brought this stuff over into Europe and the Europeans said, Wow, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.240 that's amazing, that's awesome, let's bloss stuff up here too. Yeah. 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.520 And in fact, for a long time they were importing 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.400 this stuff from the East, and in fact would even 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.200 higher experts from the East to come and do the 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.200 displays in in Europe. It would only be in the 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.839 late Middle Ages early Renaissance when you started seeing Europeans 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.520 try and take on this responsibility themselves. Now, by the 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.920 Italian Renaissance, fireworks creators began to experiment with adding extra 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:02.120 ingredients to mixtures to produce different colors of light, so 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.120 for example, adding copper to create blue light. We'll talk 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.240 more about adding color to fireworks a bit later. So 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:10.600 the thing is, if you want to learn more about 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.080 what the displays back in the Middle Ages were like, 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.280 there are only a few accounts, a lot of them 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:17.720 though come from England, because it turns out the English 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.000 were bananas over this stuff. The Italians and Germans were 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.559 working really hard on improving fireworks technology, and the English 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.680 were enjoying the heck out of it. So one of 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.280 the accounts says that during the wedding of Henry the 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.520 Seventh also known as Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.319 in four six, there were fireworks displays. Others talk more 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.600 about Elizabeth's coronation, so there's a little bit of a 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.920 argument there. The same is true for Henry the eighth 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.480 wedding uh and Boleyn, which was a wife number two. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:51.360 I think I think she had a good head on 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:56.960 her shoulders. Uh not for long spoiler art James Anthony 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.760 Froud wrote that there were quote wild men and casting 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.760 fire and making a hideous noise end quote, which I 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.959 think is a fantastic description of fireworks. When I was 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.000 a kid, I hated them because I didn't like loud noise, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.560 and even just seeing the fireworks burst in the sky 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.080 made me my anxiety levels go up because I knew 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.280 a loud noise was coming right. I remember having one 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.079 year where I was really upset by them. Like I 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.080 had loved them and then suddenly was like that's loud 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.960 and I'm against it. Yeah, I've come back around now, 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.720 but for a long time I was. I was certainly 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:32.200 the person who was like, I don't want to be 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:37.319 here when the fireworks start anyway the record, Yeah, yeah, 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.079 most dogs I've encountered shared my feeling. I think I 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.400 finally evolved beyond dog stage. So Henry the eighth and 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.640 Anne berleyn had a daughter, Elizabeth, Yeah, somewhat famous. Yes, 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.559 it became Queen of England and uh sat on her 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.040 thorn for many years throne throne. Sorry, it was just 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.080 misreading my notes. But no, Liz with obviously one of 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:08.160 the most influential monarchs of all time, really, and she 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.240 she loved the sparklies. She did she she she created 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:16.280 a position for its Firemaster of England. Um, it would 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.960 be I think it was after in the ruling of 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.880 James the First when that position came along with a knighthood. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.960 At any rate, you had people who suddenly really wanted 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.120 to pursue the craft, to become the best at it 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.400 in order to land this cushy job of being the 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.160 fire Master of England, Because you would imagine that comes 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:39.160 with some sweet you know, bonuses like money. Yeah, And 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.559 so a lot of people were trying new and different 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.760 things to kind of impress the queen. Yeah. Yeah. According 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.040 to some accounts, one of the things you might expect 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.240 to see at a truly outrageous display would be a 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.760 dragon with paper mache scales that was loaded up with 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.960 fireworks so that it would breathe fire. It would have 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.400 here to be breathing fire, and sometimes they would have 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.360 more than one, and then you would have dragon fights. Yes, 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.440 and then maybe one of the women's up catching on 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.320 fire and the other one is slightly less on fire, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.960 and so that's the one that wins. Um. But they 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.120 would battle one another. And so you read about this 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:16.920 kind of stuff, you're like, wow, these these had to 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.360 be pretty spectacular. And then you also think, remember they 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.400 had no automated way of doing this. There was probably 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.520 some poor jerk who had a match stick or some 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.000 form of torture something that was lighting this stuff manually 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:31.880 and then trying to get the heck away from it 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.600 before he burnt up. Yeah, or possibly a couple of 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.200 guys on the ground like with sticks holding these things up. 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.280 I'm a little bit terrified about the entire concept. But 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.440 but yeah, no, they were very impressive. Shakespeare even wrote 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.000 wrote about them in some of his plays, Right, Romeo 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.600 and juliet There is a quote that says, these violent 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.800 delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die like 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.640 fire and powder, which as they kiss consume. Now, in 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.000 that case, of course, he's referring to the lover's Romeo 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.600 and Juliette, and the passion they have for one another, 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.600 and he's likening it to a fireworks display, which you know, 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.360 has been a pretty powerful image that has been repeated 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.440 at nauseum ever since. The whole thing where the two 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.560 lovers kiss and then you see the fireworks going off 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.360 in the background very much. It's interesting that it seems 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.880 to have originated with Shakespeare as many so many things 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:27.000 have also, fireworks were deemed to be an illegal possession 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:33.840 for regular citizens right around Uh yeah, that that's about 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.720 when a certain persona now publicly known because of a 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:43.160 certain movie in comic book series. Yes, guy Fox got 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.680 into some trouble with the gunpowder plot. Yes, he was 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.880 part of a conspiracy to blow up the houses of 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:53.120 Parliament by storing something like thirty something casks of gunpowder 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.960 underneath the We're gonna tunnel underneath the Houses of Parliament 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.720 that stuff in there and then light it and blow 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.760 it up. And the conspirators were caught before they could 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:07.040 execute their plan. And Guy Fox himself, who was not 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.480 necessarily the ringleader, he was one of the members um, 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.560 was really made an example of in some of the 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.160 most horrifying ways you can imagine. Now, granted he was 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.120 planning on committing a terrible act, but they did a 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.960 really terrible act to him and drawn quartered. And of 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.600 course they had Guy Fox Day for you know, the 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.640 early Guy Fox days involved lots of burning of Guy 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.640 Fox and effigy um. And then there there's a whole 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.000 story there that's amazing, but stuff you missed in history 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.880 class would really be the best place to cover that. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:37.880 And I'm sure they have actually, I mean, I feel 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.240 like it's likely. Yeah, these these days we have the 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:46.360 charming anonymous masks, Yes, based off exactly. So at that 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.120 point it was made illegal for the common citizen to 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:53.120 possess fireworks. The only people who are allowed were specifically 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.880 given that that responsibility by the crown. So that's kind 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:01.800 of the early early history. But let's talk about what's 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.679 actually going on inside of firework, what is what is 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.840 making it work? Well, this is mostly chemistry, but let's 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.600 let's talk about black powder, since that is that is 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.760 the basic what is going on here. So we talked 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.720 about sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter or potassium nitrate. Uh, you 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:24.640 might wonder what are these things actually doing within gunpowders. 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.320 So sulfur and charcoal are acting as fuel, right, and 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.720 the potassium nitrate is acting as an oxidizer. So oxidizers 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.720 in this sense are the chemicals that fuel requires in 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.240 order to burn. If you remember the great triangle of 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.800 what was required to make fire, you have to have fuel, 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.080 you have to have oxygen, and you have to have heat. 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.639 Those are the three things that together will allow you 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.600 to have fire. And if you're lacking any of those, 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:48.359 you're not going to get it. If you have just 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.840 oxygen and fuel and but not heat, it's not going 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.239 to happen. Same thing with just oxygen and fire. You've 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.359 got to have some fuel there. So oxidizers are chemicals 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.280 that are really good at getting oxygen into the mixing. Yes, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.359 and in fact, potassium nitrate is incredibly good at this. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.680 So let's look at these ingredients each on their own. 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.320 If you look at just charcoal, which is essentially carbon 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.879 and you want to try and burn it, if you 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.160 were to light a match and just hold it to charcoal, 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.960 it doesn't really ignite very well, yeah, kind of. It 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.320 kind of smolders and smokes, and and if you get 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:25.880 it hot enough, like it will start to burn. Certainly 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.840 they'll start to glow, doesn't. You don't get a lot 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.720 of flame out of it. You've probably done this at home, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.040 perhaps on a charcoal grill, or when you have burned 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.120 a log down to the coals. Yeah, you've got those 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.359 those coals are that's charcoal that's just glowing because of 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.520 the heat that's coming through. We'll talk about the actual 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.200 mechanism of glowing a little bit later too. So again, 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.520 you don't get a lot of ignition, not not in 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.280 a lot of flame, and certainly not explosive ignition yet 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.119 probably unless you've done something very strange, right, unless unless 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.360 your charcoal has got some other funky ingredients in it, 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:04.320 or I guess you've compressed it a lot. Maybe, Yeah, 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.400 that would be incredible. Eventually you would get a diamond. So, 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.600 but sulfur it burns at a lower temperature than charcoal 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.760 does that carbon does. It ignites more easily, but not 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.000 really at room temperature. So if you had a little crucible, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.360 let's say, a little ceramic crucible filled with some some sulfur, 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:24.880 and you put a match to it, it wouldn't really 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.520 light up. But again, if you were to heat it, 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.880 it will start to melt, and then it will burn 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.399 if exposed to even higher temperatures, and that gives off 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.520 sulfur dioxide, which, by the way, not good to breathe in. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.000 It can irritate your lung. One of the many reasons 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.639 why you shouldn't melt sulfur at home. Yeah. Yeah, these 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:47.119 these things like charcoal that's fairly fairly benign as things go. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:52.439 Sulfur a little bit less so, potassium nitrate less so 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.119 than either of the other two. Yeah, this is what 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.960 increases that rate of combustion significantly when it's added to 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.200 a mixture of carbon and sulfur, again in the correct amounts. 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.040 So when it's mixed properly, that combination willing nite and 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.199 burn really really quickly. Um. And it is it is, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.320 the of course, the traditional oxidizer in this combination of 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.840 stuff that goes into black powder, but lots of other 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.840 things can be used, for example, potassium chlorate, potassium perchlorate, 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:22.640 or barium nitrate and UH. As of twenty eleven, organizations 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.719 from like Walt Disney Company to the US Department of 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:30.320 Defense have started looking at green alternatives to all of 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.920 these oxidizers. UH and I say green, and you go, like, 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.080 what you're making stuff explode? How green does it need 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.480 to be? But the thing is is that um okay. 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:42.920 So it turns out the dangerous chemicals can present health 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:47.639 and environmental hazards. UM and potassium nitrate specifically is a 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:51.240 really common ingredient in herbsides. Potassium chlorate is a hearsh 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:55.480 ingredient in disinfectants. Potassium perchlorate can disrupt the production of 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.480 hormones and the thyroid and harmon born babies, and a 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.080 barium nitrate can interfere with heart and breathing functions. So 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:04.919 none of that is good fun times and and so 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.200 a lot of research has been put in recent years 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.840 into trying to figure out better ways of burning stuff 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.040 that isn't releasing these chemicals into the environment and showering 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.080 them over crowds of fawning onlookers or you know, into 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.800 your water supply, or for example, potassium chlorate is a 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.040 great example. Potassium chlorate is this stuff a great example 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.480 of a bad, bad ingredient as as opposed to one 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.280 that's green. Potassium chlorate ends up creating a more explosive 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.359 burn than say potassium nitrate does. Potassium nitrate is already 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.840 pretty impressive, but if you ever watch someone create potassium 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:45.520 chlorate a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium chlorate in 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.240 the right amounts and then light it, it lights even. 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:52.199 It burns even faster than the regular black powder mixture, 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.320 and so it's often used in something called a burst charge, 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.119 which we'll talk about later. But like you said, it 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.440 leaves some pretty nasty stuff behind chlorate. If you look 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.040 at that word chlorate, you realize that chlorine is one 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.239 of those things that's involved in this and that's one 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.840 of the byproducts as you get this chlorine released as 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.000 as one of the the remnants after the chemical reaction 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.760 that happens when you ignite this stuff. Chlorine is not 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:21.520 good stuff, folks. You don't don't want just pure chlorine 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.639