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Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

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Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the Tech Area.

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Speaker 2: It is the fourth of July all over the world,

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Speaker 2: but in the United States we celebrate the fourth of July.

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Speaker 1: We associate that with the.

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Speaker 2: Signing of the Declaration of Independence, although that that in

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Speaker 2: itself is not entirely historically accurate, but that's part for

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Speaker 2: the course with the way we observe stuff here in America.

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Speaker 2: But yes, we are off today because of the fourth

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Speaker 2: of July holiday, and so we are bringing you a

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Speaker 2: classic episode. We ran part one of this episode yesterday,

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Speaker 2: so if you miss that, you may want to listen

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Speaker 2: to that first. This is called Fireworks Part two because

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Speaker 2: the previous one was called tech Stuff Lights Some fire Works.

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Speaker 2: Originally this episode published July twenty eighth, twenty fourteen, and

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Speaker 2: at that time, Lauren Vogelbaum was my co host. She

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Speaker 2: now is host of brain Stuff and other things of

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Speaker 2: that nature. So she's been doing lots of podcast production

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Speaker 2: and is killing it. But back in these days she

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Speaker 2: was a fresh faced podcaster joining me to talk about fireworks.

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Speaker 2: I hope you enjoy this classic episode and let's listen in.

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Speaker 3: As of about the Italian Renaissance, Yeah, people started adding

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Speaker 3: different metals into the gunpowder to make it burn in

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Speaker 3: different colors, right, And I suspect that this was tied

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Speaker 3: into the fact that also around the Italian Renaissance, people

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Speaker 3: were starting to make brilliantly colored paints of many different kinds,

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Speaker 3: and the same metal compounds that were being used for

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Speaker 3: those paints, I'm guessing is what got ported over into fireworks.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah. They also found, you know, if you were

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Speaker 1: able to get a metallic salt and say burn it,

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Speaker 1: it would burn with a particular color of flame. So

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Speaker 1: you would get a flame that would be green or

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Speaker 1: blue or whatever based upon the metallic salts that were

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Speaker 1: in that mixture. And that's when they said, hey, this

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Speaker 1: firecracker stuff, if we were to put this in combination

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Speaker 1: with the firecracker stuff, we'd get these different colors of

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Speaker 1: light that would go off because the explosion could ignite

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

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Speaker 1: metallic salts in them. So we just mixed together the

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: adding a little flavor. So your basic ingredient is still

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

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

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Speaker 3: Right, And to explain what creates those bright pretty colors,

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Speaker 3: we need to get down to an atomic level of

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Speaker 3: how photons are created.

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Speaker 1: Yeah or not? Well, yeah, given off, given off? Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So if you have an atom, one of the things

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Speaker 1: that one of the sub atomic particles that make up

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Speaker 1: that atom is the electron. Right, You have electrons that

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Speaker 1: surround the nucleus with neutrons and protons or in the

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Speaker 1: case of hydrogen, just a proton. And if you were

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Speaker 1: to add energy to that atom, you would excite the electron.

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Speaker 1: And I don't mean it'd be like ooh, I cannot

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Speaker 1: wait until Avenger's two age of ultron comes out.

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Speaker 3: Actually that's kind of I imagine that the dance that

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Speaker 3: the electron does is very much like that dance that

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Speaker 3: I do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the little little arms are at shoulder height and

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Speaker 1: clenched in fists if you want to envision it, And

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Speaker 1: then you just kind of wiggle a little bit. So

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Speaker 1: these electrons, Yeah, they get excited from their normal energy state,

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Speaker 1: which is called the ground state. That's the one that

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Speaker 1: they naturally inhabit when they're just hanging out exactly.

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Speaker 3: So that excited state will kind of push the electron

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Speaker 3: further out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So the thing is this is not sustainable. For

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: in the process, all.

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Speaker 3: Right, So when it snaps back, it gives off energy

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Speaker 3: in the form of a photon.

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

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Speaker 1: different color of light, different.

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Speaker 3: A different wavelength of photons exactly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. The photon's light is dependent upon its wavelength.

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Speaker 3: The amount of energy that it has equals the color

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Speaker 3: that you see.

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

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Speaker 1: elements are generating a certain color, it's going to be

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Speaker 1: that way all the time.

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Speaker 3: It's pretty dependable.

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

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Speaker 1: a list of the elements the metallic salts that are

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

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

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Speaker 1: me to go first?

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Speaker 3: It's the longest list, so all right.

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Speaker 1: Here we go. All right, So for the color going

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Speaker 1: by the way, in the order of ROIGBIV. Technically we're

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Speaker 1: doing roug bit because indigo actually gets turned into indigo

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Speaker 1: and violet get turned into purple. Also, I guess it's

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Speaker 1: technically roug BIPs because we have an S at the end.

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Speaker 1: All right, fair enough, here we go, starting off red.

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Speaker 1: To create the color red, you would typically add metallic

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Speaker 1: salts such as strontium salts, lithium salts, lithium carbonate, or

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Speaker 1: strontium carbonate, which creates a very bright red. So the Again,

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Speaker 1: depending upon which ones you use, you get different hues

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Speaker 1: of whatever color you're looking at.

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Speaker 3: Sure, orange you've got calcium salts or calcium chloride.

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

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Speaker 3: Green can be barium compounds plus a chlorine producer YEP

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Speaker 3: or barium chloride YEP.

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

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

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Speaker 3: Purple can be a mixture of and red compounds. So

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Speaker 3: like strontium and copper yep.

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Speaker 1: And then you have silver, which is essentially something like aluminum,

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Speaker 1: titanium or magnesium that's just burning. And those things burn

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Speaker 1: really super bright. That's what gives fireworks their their silvery

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Speaker 1: sparkly look. Yeah, so those are your basic ingredients. So

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Speaker 1: how do we end up with the starburst patterns? I mean, obviously,

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Speaker 1: if you just had an explosive with just these metallic

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Speaker 1: salts mixed willy nilly in there and it exploded, it

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Speaker 1: would just be a big mass of light in different colors.

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Speaker 1: But we see these beautiful starburst patterns that come out.

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Speaker 1: So what is it that causes that. Well, it's all

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Speaker 1: in the actual manufacture and design, the layout of baracle

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Speaker 1: design of right. Yeah, it's it's how you have situated

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Speaker 1: the various metallic salts and you put them well.

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Speaker 3: Well, okay, so we mentioned we mentioned at the end

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Speaker 3: of the last episode that the basic let's run down again,

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Speaker 3: the basic way that a firework is composed.

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Speaker 1: Sure, okay, So if you were looking at a firework

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Speaker 1: from top to.

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Speaker 3: Bottom, if you cut one right in half, yeah.

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Speaker 1: So the if you cut it right and half you

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Speaker 1: would see that in the center is a burst charge.

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

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Speaker 1: everything outward in whatever formation you happen to have.

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Speaker 3: And then surrounding that, you're going to have some kind

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Speaker 3: of a clay or other material that's holding what's called

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Speaker 3: in the industry stars.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the metallic salts that are placed in

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Speaker 1: and these these stars are small, they're like three or

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Speaker 1: four centimeters across, so they look like pellets, and the

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Speaker 1: pellets can be put around. There's also black powder around those,

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Speaker 1: so it can really project them out and also ignite

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Speaker 1: them so that they burn properly. Now you've got these

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Speaker 1: layouts that will determine exactly what kind of effect you'll have.

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Speaker 1: It's also the shape of the projectile shell itself, but

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Speaker 1: really it's the layout of those stars. If you put

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Speaker 1: the stars in a really tight circle around this burst charge,

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: a three hundred and sixty degree thing. But because of

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

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

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Speaker 1: actually going out in all directions. It's a true explosion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: explosions or combustions, just it burns even faster than regular

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Speaker 1: black powder does, making it much more dangerous. But that's

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Speaker 1: what you need in order to generate these colors. Although

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: We're going to take a quick break talking about fireworks

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Speaker 2: and listen to some messages from sponsors that might spark

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Speaker 2: your interest.

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Speaker 1: So you would typically have lots and lots of these

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Speaker 1: stars packed into a single firework and you place them

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Speaker 1: meticulously inside the rocket. And bi meticulously, I mean this

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Speaker 1: is done by hand. People hand make these fireworks so

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Speaker 1: that the patterns are exact. They will place the stars strategically.

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Speaker 1: This is how you are able to get something like

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Speaker 1: a smiley face effect because it's all based on physics

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Speaker 1: that you know exactly how far something's gonna fly based

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: those stars are right in there.

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Speaker 3: It's very careful chemistry and mix and physics.

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Speaker 1: Physics, Yeah, physics does the rest for you, as if

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

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Speaker 1: physical firework. Physics takes care of the rest. It'll just

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Speaker 1: make stuff go boom and it'll fly the way it's

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

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Speaker 3: And I'm sure machines could could even more precisely than

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Speaker 3: humans create these mixtures and put them down in But

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Speaker 3: the thing is that machines tend to get a little

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Speaker 3: bit warm and sparky while they're doing their thing. Yea,

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Speaker 3: So overall it's a lot. I mean, my hand is

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Speaker 3: way less sparky than most machines that I know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So also get rid of that stack electricity before

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Speaker 1: you go in there. Yes, but see, one thing you

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Speaker 1: could do is you could use computer programs to help

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Speaker 1: you figure out what's the ideal layout.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure, I'm sure that those algorithms exist.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, they do. Where you can actually you have

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

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

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Speaker 1: one day to the next.

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Speaker 3: As we'll talk about in the next section. There are

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Speaker 3: some factors that can cause a little bit of havoc. Weather, humidity,

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Speaker 3: ye kind of stuff. Pressure, I'm sure.

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Speaker 1: So looking at a rocket completely in cross section, let's

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

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Speaker 1: so vertically, and you're looking at it from top to bottom,

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Speaker 1: here's what you would have. You would have a one

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Speaker 1: main fuse that would lead down from the top of

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Speaker 1: the projectile into the firework. That would ignite two separate

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Speaker 1: other fuses. All right, So you've got one fuse that's

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Speaker 1: a time delay fuse, and it burns more slowly. Then

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Speaker 1: you have a quick burning fuse, which obviously burns faster.

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Speaker 1: The quick burning fuze goes along the outside of the

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Speaker 1: firework down into its base. That's where you have the

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Speaker 1: lift charge. That's the black powder that's going to provide

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Speaker 1: the force to project the firework into the sky. Right

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Speaker 1: the second the time delay fuse will continue to burn,

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Speaker 1: and if you've designed the firework correctly, again based upon

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Speaker 1: the laws of physics. You will have it ignite it

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Speaker 1: just the right arc right right, usually when the firework

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Speaker 1: has reached the peak, Yeah, exactly, and so that would

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Speaker 1: light the burst charge that's the one that has all

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Speaker 1: the stars centered around it. So you've got two charges,

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Speaker 1: the lift charge and the burst charge, and the two

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Speaker 1: have to be separated, or else you just get a

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Speaker 1: mortar that explodes in a bright color of light, which

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Speaker 1: we've had happened before that accidents have happened.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and then right, and then each of those little

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Speaker 3: stars inside the package have their own oxidizers that are

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Speaker 3: going to set off.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, each at the stars exactly. And you may even

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Speaker 1: have a multi break firework which would have multiple chambers

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

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Speaker 1: you get multiple explosions from one projectile. Those would have

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Speaker 1: even separation charges. You can think of it kind of

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Speaker 1: like a rocket that goes into outer space. You know,

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Speaker 1: when the engines are done, you have the little separator

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Speaker 1: charges that explode, separating the engines away so that the

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Speaker 1: rest of the vehicle can continue going off into space. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: same sort of thing with your basic firework, except of

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Speaker 1: course you're not shooting it nearly as high, but you

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Speaker 1: have little little Yeah, you have a little separation charges

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Speaker 1: that will allow the multi breaks to happen. Meanwhile, that

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Speaker 1: fuse just continues to slowly go through the entire firework,

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Speaker 1: lighting each section in the right order. Yeah, so it's

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Speaker 1: pretty cool.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about some of these different kinds of

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Speaker 3: shells and what exactly they do.

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Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, so these are terms in the fireworks industry.

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Speaker 1: So the kind of shell you have, the design of it,

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Speaker 1: the physical shape of the shell, as well as the

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Speaker 1: layout of the stars are what determine the how it behaves.

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Speaker 1: So for example, I guess we can alternate with these two.

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Speaker 1: You have a palm shell, which contains large comets or

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: be able to impress your friends when you watch a

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Speaker 1: fireworks display. That's a palm charge. It's a classic palm clip.

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Speaker 1: Really well done.

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Speaker 3: You've also got the round those perhaps expectedly explode in

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Speaker 3: a spherical shape, usually of colored stars.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is what I always think of when I

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

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Speaker 1: just the big round globe of glowing stars like red

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Speaker 1: or green flying outward.

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Speaker 3: I actually think of the palm first.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see it all depends on I guess,

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Speaker 1: your own personal experience. I've seen a lot of Disney fireworks,

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Speaker 1: and these round shells.

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Speaker 3: Are They're very fond of them there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because if you do three of them in the

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Speaker 1: right orientation.

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Speaker 3: They look like a mickey head.

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Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. So then you have the ring shell. This

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Speaker 1: explodes to produce a symmetrical ring of stars. The way

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Speaker 1: this works is that again, if you were to cut

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

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Speaker 1: perfect ring of the the pellets, the star pellets around

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Speaker 1: the burst charge, and it would just shoot them all

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Speaker 1: out in a circle, you know, in equal directions. So

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Speaker 1: that's how that one works.

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Speaker 3: Then you've got a willow. These contain stars with a

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Speaker 3: high charcoal composition to make them really burning so that

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Speaker 3: they'll fall out in the shape of willow branches and

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Speaker 3: stay lips, stay visible sometimes even until they hit the ground.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, these are the ones that you know, you see

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00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,360
Speaker 1: those sparkles and they just the long trail of sparkles

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

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Speaker 3: We're making so many gestures over here, folks.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of like spirit fingers going on inside

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

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

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Speaker 1: in sequence. Maroon shells is that the color actually no

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Speaker 1: In fireworks language, maroon shells are shells that make a

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Speaker 1: boom noise. These are the ones that I really didn't

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Speaker 1: like as a kid, the very loud bangs. So, by

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

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Speaker 1: is you really compress that black powder in fireworks factories,

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Speaker 1: the way I've seen this is that you create the

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Speaker 1: parchment shell, the black powder's in it. You then have

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Speaker 1: that shell wrapped in string that is very tightly wound

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Speaker 1: so it compresses it. Then you put wet parchment paper

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Speaker 1: on the outside of it, tightly wrapped so that when

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Speaker 1: it dries, it compresses it even more. Oh wow, yeah,

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Speaker 1: pretty impressive.

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Speaker 3: Our next type is the chrysanthemum shell, which bursts into

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Speaker 3: like a spherical pattern of stars that leave a visible trail.

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Speaker 3: So the effect is something like a chrysanthemum blossom.

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Speaker 1: Yep. Then you have the pistol, the PI S T

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Speaker 1: I L, which is like the chrysanthemum shell, but this

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Speaker 1: one has a core that is a different color than

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Speaker 1: the stars that fly out from the middle. So the

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Speaker 1: middle is one color, the stars the second color.

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Speaker 3: You can have just a maroon shell.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 3: So if you just just a bang.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I hated those. And then you had the serpentine,

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Speaker 1: which is my strategy, and halo which never works. But no,

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00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,560
Speaker 1: a serpentine fireworks shell bursts to send small tubes of

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Speaker 1: incendiaries skittering outward at random paths, which may culminate an

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Speaker 1: exploding stars. So if you ever see the ones that

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Speaker 1: have like the crazy spinneys that fly off, yeah, those

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Speaker 1: are serpentines. So those are your basic types of fireworks shells.

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Speaker 1: Of course, there are other very on these, or there's

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00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,800
Speaker 1: some that use this as a basis and then they

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00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,239
Speaker 1: create a different effect. But if you were in the

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00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,480
Speaker 1: fireworks trade, those are the kind of terms you would

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Speaker 1: be hearing, and people would just call them out as

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Speaker 1: they would see them launch, like, oh, that's a round L,

350
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,399
Speaker 1: that's a serpentine. You wouldn't have to say that's a

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Speaker 1: maroon because everyone would be going what But anyway.

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Speaker 3: So we've talked a little bit about this, but actually

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Speaker 3: launching fireworks, especially in terms of displays.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, the basic one we've covered the idea that

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Speaker 2: you know you have the slow burning fuse and the

356
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Speaker 2: quick burning fuse. The quick burning one lights the black powder.

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00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:36,600
Speaker 2: One thing we didn't mention is that you do have

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Speaker 2: to have a mortar, which is essentially a pipe that

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00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,879
Speaker 2: has a closed off end on one side. And you know,

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00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,280
Speaker 2: in the old days, you would essentially light the one

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00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,199
Speaker 2: main fuze, drop the package into the mortar, and then

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Speaker 2: run the heck away before everything started going bonky. So

363
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,960
Speaker 2: once that lift charge ignites, it creates a lot of

364
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,399
Speaker 2: gas and that gas expands and that's what provides the

365
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,960
Speaker 2: thrust to push the package out of the.

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Speaker 1: Mortar and into the air. So if this sounds a

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00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,560
Speaker 1: lot like our discussions about things like cannon and flintlock

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00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,119
Speaker 1: pistols and things of that nature, it's because it is.

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00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,359
Speaker 1: We're talking about expanding gases. It's the same thing that

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00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,720
Speaker 1: creates the the propulsion for your basic firearm.

371
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:22,080
Speaker 3: It's creating a push yep.

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Speaker 1: So you've got your mortar and your your lift charge,

373
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,639
Speaker 1: and that's all you need to be able to launch

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00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,680
Speaker 1: it properly. These days we don't necessarily need to have

375
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,160
Speaker 1: someone physically light a fuse and then dump it into

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Speaker 1: a mortar.

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00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:40,840
Speaker 3: That does right. There are computerized fuses that will I

378
00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 3: mean not self light but no. No.

379
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,440
Speaker 1: What essentially you've got is you set up your your

380
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,040
Speaker 1: mortar system that already has the various packages in each

381
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,080
Speaker 1: mortar as it's supposed to be, and then you have

382
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,040
Speaker 1: an electrical charge that can create the spark to light

383
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,760
Speaker 1: the fuse, so that way everything can be done from

384
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,920
Speaker 1: a distance. You can either have it where it's manually done,

385
00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:03,960
Speaker 1: where you push a button and that button is what

386
00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,520
Speaker 1: creates the spark, or you could have it fully automated,

387
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,320
Speaker 1: where you've got a full program and you say, at

388
00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 1: this time stamp and when this program runs, this particular

389
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,880
Speaker 1: spark needs to happen, and in that case you can

390
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:17,920
Speaker 1: launch a firework. So this is where you get those

391
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,000
Speaker 1: big choreograph displays. Right, You've got a essentially a program

392
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,960
Speaker 1: that has a beginning to the end. And think of

393
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 1: it like a video on YouTube. You would you look

394
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,920
Speaker 1: at the video and you'd see, oh, it's seven man's

395
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,800
Speaker 1: twelve minute twelve seconds long. I want to see what

396
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:36,080
Speaker 1: happens at minute three and twelve seconds and you go

397
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,119
Speaker 1: straight to that point and you look at that frame. Well,

398
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,800
Speaker 1: in this computer program, you would be able to see

399
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:47,240
Speaker 1: which switches were essentially being thrown electronically not mechanically necessarily

400
00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,959
Speaker 1: these days, and you could say, oh, well, all right,

401
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:55,280
Speaker 1: at that point, mortars seventeen three and forty nine, all fire.

402
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,879
Speaker 1: There's a roundel in the center, there's a chrysanthemum, and

403
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 1: there's a pistol, and all three go up simultaneously to

404
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 1: create the effect you're going for. And you know exactly

405
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: what's in which mortar, you know, you program that ends.

406
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 3: You put them there.

407
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:09,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, you put them there, and you say to the

408
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,880
Speaker 1: computer program, this is the thing that's in this other thing,

409
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,360
Speaker 1: and you cut.

410
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 3: And create your fuses. Fuse technology also has a lot

411
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 3: to do with how all of this is going to

412
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 3: go off, and fuses are just really basic things if

413
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,639
Speaker 3: you've never created one yourself, that are made of some

414
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 3: kind of fuel yep, that's coated or possibly soaked or

415
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,479
Speaker 3: infused with some kind of oxidizer yep. And the exact

416
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 3: materials and ratios of materials that you use are going

417
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,360
Speaker 3: to give you these these different time.

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Speaker 1: Effects right whether or not it'll burn at say, you

419
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,040
Speaker 1: could have the same length of fuse and one of

420
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,440
Speaker 1: them might take fifteen seconds to burn all the way through,

421
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,160
Speaker 1: and the other one might burn all the way through

422
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,679
Speaker 1: in three seconds. Again, it all depends upon the stuff

423
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,800
Speaker 1: you've put into that fuse, the oxidizers, any other kind

424
00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:00,480
Speaker 1: of fuel you've imbued the fuse with. So once you

425
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,959
Speaker 1: know the physics and assuming your chemistry is good, you

426
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: can have very consistent results from one firework to the next.

427
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,359
Speaker 1: So that assumes a lot. It means that you have

428
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,120
Speaker 1: to be very consistent in all the ingredients you use.

429
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 1: You have to be consistent in the mixtures, the proportions

430
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: you're using, as well as consistent in the placement of

431
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,160
Speaker 1: stars and the fuses that you use. But if you are,

432
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 1: if you're really good about that, then you know how

433
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:28,959
Speaker 1: far the thing is going to fly based upon the

434
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,440
Speaker 1: amount of lift charge in it and its weight, because

435
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,119
Speaker 1: that's the two things that are going to determine how

436
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,640
Speaker 1: far projectile flies is how heavy is it and how

437
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: much thrust are you giving it. Then you would also

438
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: be able to determine when it's going to explode based

439
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,120
Speaker 1: upon the type of fuse that leads to that verse charge.

440
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 1: So once you know these things, you can start to

441
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,560
Speaker 1: work backward. Right. So let's say that you have a

442
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,360
Speaker 1: piece of music that you particularly want to set your

443
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,360
Speaker 1: fireworks display to. And since I'm a huge Disney fan

444
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,720
Speaker 1: and Disney is famous for this, let's say it's when

445
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,199
Speaker 1: you wish upon a star, and when you hear the

446
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 1: word star, clearly you want to have a starburst effect, right,

447
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: you want to have the gorgeous starburst effects. So the

448
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: crowd is oohing and eyeing right at the right moment.

449
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:11,879
Speaker 1: So what you would do is you would take that

450
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,280
Speaker 1: song and you would look at the time stamp for

451
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,439
Speaker 1: when the word star is mentioned. From that time stamp,

452
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,200
Speaker 1: you start to work backward and you say, all right,

453
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 1: based upon when this happens in the song, when does

454
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: that burst charge need to ignite? And then working backwards

455
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 1: from that point, you know, you know when the burst

456
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: charge needs to ignite so that you get the effect

457
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: you want. You then say, all right, well i want

458
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 1: it to be at this particular height and I'm firing

459
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: it from this particular location. So based on that, you

460
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: know the distance that the projectile has to go so

461
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:45,719
Speaker 1: they can be at the right height and explode at

462
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: the right time. That tells you how large a lift

463
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 1: charge you need to get the projectile there, and how

464
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,080
Speaker 1: quickly that quick burning fuse needs to burn in order

465
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 1: for it to ignite, and what time you need to

466
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: push or push the button or have it automatically expect exactly.

467
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 1: So again you just work backwards. You know, you know

468
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 1: when you want the effect to happen, so then you

469
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,680
Speaker 1: work backwards to find out when it has to initiate

470
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:13,439
Speaker 1: that fuse burning for the first time. So it actually

471
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: is is pretty easy in that respect, but it does

472
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,160
Speaker 1: require that you have a very good knowledge of how

473
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: the physics works. So that and it also requires that

474
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,800
Speaker 1: those fireworks are consistently made.

475
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 3: Yes, so you've worked out the chemistry correctly, right.

476
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: So that way when you use all right, we're going

477
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 1: to use firework number seven, this this particular type of

478
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 1: firework every single time, because I mean, like Walt Disney,

479
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 1: the Disney Parks, they do these these fireworks displays nearly

480
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,199
Speaker 1: every night, particularly in the summer, right, So then that

481
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 1: means it has to be exactly right each time. So

482
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: the fireworks have to be consistent and they have to

483
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 1: be ignited at the same time, the consistent time throughout

484
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: each of these displays. But it's really pretty cool. Also,

485
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,160
Speaker 1: you might wonder what exactly is making that boom noise.

486
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, we've been talking a little bit about expanding gases. Yeah,

487
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 3: and that's basically it. The expansion of this stuff in

488
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 3: the firework displaces a pretty large quantity of air.

489
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, that air has to go somewhere, so it ripples

490
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 1: outward really fast, right, Yeah, it's essentially a shock wave. Yep,

491
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 1: So that's what makes the boom. Yeah. So of course,

492
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: the more black powder you can pack into a small space,

493
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 1: the bigger the boom. Again, it has to be compact

494
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 1: because if it's just loose, then it just it just burns, burns,

495
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 1: It burns really fast. In fact, there are a lot

496
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 1: of people who get really picky about the terms igniting

497
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:45,560
Speaker 1: versus exploding, because they say, well, technically, gunpowder just burns really,

498
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 1: really really fast. It's not truly explosive. Yeah, but if

499
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: you were to put it in a very compact area,

500
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: then you get that explosion because of the rapid combustion.

501
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,879
Speaker 2: We got some more to say about fireworks. Before we

502
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,160
Speaker 2: get to that, let's take it another quick break.

503
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 1: So we've really kind of covered all the basics about,

504
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: you know, how these things work, the way that you

505
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: would coordinate stuff. But we've still got some fun, little

506
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: goofy trivial facts that I wanted to cover. So back

507
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty eight I mentioned this a little bit.

508
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 1: Disneyland introduced its first fireworks show. It was called Fantasy

509
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 1: in the Sky, and Walt Disney came up with this idea,

510
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,199
Speaker 1: or actually asked the imagineers to come up with an

511
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: idea of how do you keep people in the park

512
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: after it gets dark?

513
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 3: And I guess this is why to this day Disney

514
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 3: uses fireworks displays almost nightly.

515
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it turned out to be one of those

516
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,919
Speaker 1: things that really really worked well. People would stay in

517
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: the park longer, which ultimately means they'd be willing to

518
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 1: spend more money. I mean you the longer you keep

519
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 1: someone there, the more likely they are going to walk

520
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 1: out with one of those.

521
00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:59,640
Speaker 3: Dolls Mickey lemonades and Mickey dolls.

522
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: Ye there, the more churros they'll eat. Disney churos are

523
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: the best. You know, their ice cream is pretty awesome too. Okay,

524
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: I love Disney. But anyway, the launch site for the

525
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: fireworks was backstage, and each firework at that time had

526
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 1: to be lit manually. There's actually some video that you

527
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: can watch of the various people who had to run

528
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: back and forth and light the fireworks in the right sequence.

529
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: These early fireworks weren't choreographed the way the modern ones were.

530
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 1: It wasn't like you had park wide music and the

531
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 1: fireworks went off of the but they were like really

532
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: impressive displays. The displays, by the way, and Disney parks

533
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 1: all depend upon where you which park you're in because

534
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 1: some of the places like Disneyland, Paris and uh and

535
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 1: Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney See have specific limitations on

536
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: how high fireworks can go. So the ones that you'll

537
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: see in say Florida and California are different than the

538
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,199
Speaker 1: ones you would see in these other parks because of

539
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: those local laws. Sure, and since the days of Fantasy

540
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: in the Sky, they've kind of upgraded. Like I said,

541
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 1: they've got the fully choreographed ones.

542
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, with quite a few shells.

543
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: Yeah. The Disney World's Wishes display has five hundred and

544
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 1: fifty seven firing cues. They have more shells than that,

545
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 1: but just five hundred and fifty seven separate queues in

546
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 1: that one display, So five hundred and fifty seven different

547
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:31,440
Speaker 1: times there are multiple shells going up into the sky.

548
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 1: That's incredibly complex. I think it's like seventeen minutes long

549
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: something like that. So it's a really long display, so

550
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: really impressive. I mean obviously, if it were like three

551
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: minutes long and there's five hundred and fifty seven firing cues,

552
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: you would just be blind and deaf by the end

553
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: of it.

554
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, that sounds a little bit whelming right there. Yes,

555
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 3: they've also engineered their system to use compressed air for

556
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:58,240
Speaker 3: launches rather than that initial blast. Yeah, we've been talking

557
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,400
Speaker 3: about an initial blast forcing something out out of the

558
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 3: firing tube. But yeah, but they're using compressed air, so

559
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,040
Speaker 3: it probably reduces their cost a lot. You only need

560
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 3: that single explosion, and it reduces the amount of smoke

561
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 3: that's created.

562
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they don't have to because obviously those early

563
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: displays emit that once the display was over, you had

564
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,959
Speaker 1: this kind of cloud of smoke hanging over the Magic Kingdom.

565
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 3: Yeah.

566
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this way they are able to avoid that. Also,

567
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: I mean, you're just using giant air canons. How cool

568
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 1: is that. In the United States, at least, fireworks are

569
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 1: technically classified as two different types of explosives at the

570
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 1: same time because of the different effects. So the fact

571
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: that they have the one blast for propulsion and the

572
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 1: other blast that's truly the explosion. You have low level

573
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 1: and like an intermediate level of explosive classification just for fireworks,

574
00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: So it gets two to one.

575
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 3: As of the recording of this podcast, the largest fireworks

576
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 3: display on record happened on December thirty first, twenty thirteen

577
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 3: in Dubai, during which they exploded four hundred and seventy

578
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 3: nine thousand, six hundred and fifty one fireworks.

579
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: That's a lot.

580
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 3: It stretched across about sixty miles of seafront.

581
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: That is an enormous fireworks display. Yeah, the air would

582
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 1: look as if it were on fire, I imagine by yeah. Yeah, Well,

583
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: we kind of have to because I don't think anyone

584
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: else can afford to do that.

585
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 3: No, no, and again we do want to impress upon

586
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 3: you that these are I mean beautiful and miracular, Well

587
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 3: not miraculous, they're technological. These are beautiful, technological feats of engineering.

588
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 3: And physics and chemistry all at the same time.

589
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: That will totally blow your fingers off.

590
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 3: They will super blow your fingers off, y'all.

591
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 1: Don't play with them, no, yeah, and I know there

592
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 1: are a lot of people who do, like their little

593
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: backyard fireworks display for Fourth of July here in the

594
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: US or the New Year's Eve or whatever.

595
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 3: Just just you know, stay sober. Folks.

596
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: Have a spotter, yeah, have you know your fire handling

597
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: stuff like a fire extinguisher is always a good idea.

598
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: Just practice safety and be be alert, you know, enjoy yourself,

599
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,479
Speaker 1: but mind and don't make them at home, please, Right,

600
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 1: these are these are explosives, and explosives are inherently dangerous,

601
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: so just be careful. Even sparklers are using black powder, right,

602
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 1: that's that's one of the mixers, and they have like

603
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 1: the little metal flakes like aluminum or whatever in them

604
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: so that they create those bright silver sparks. So these

605
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: are things that will burn. They'll burn hot. They will

606
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: burn you if you're not careful, So just show caution.

607
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 1: Enjoy yourselves though, because these displays can be really really impressive.

608
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: I like to let other people handle it for me

609
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: because knowing how excellent prone I am. I realize that

610
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 1: it would be a terrible idea to put me in

611
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: charge of any kind of fireworks displays.

612
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no, given the opportunity, I will burn myself

613
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 3: every time. Yeah, I have to remind myself approximately daily

614
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 3: that hot things are.

615
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: Hot, right, exactly right? Oh yeah, that thing that glowing red? Now,

616
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 1: I remember why it's glowing red. It's because of that

617
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: those excited electrons, the photons. Yeah.

618
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 2: That was the conclusion of the two part series about

619
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,720
Speaker 2: fireworks fireworks Part two. In this case, Lauren and I

620
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 2: had a lot of fun talking about that and researching fireworks.

621
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 1: I used to really.

622
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 2: Hate fireworks as a kid. I think it was a

623
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,680
Speaker 2: sensory thing and that it was just the very loud

624
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,720
Speaker 2: bangs coupled with the very bright lights were upsetting to

625
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 2: me to the point where I would say that the

626
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 2: lights looked loud. It was a weird thing. And you know,

627
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 2: I don't think I had synesthesia or anything like that.

628
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 2: I think it was just me trying to communicate that

629
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 2: I did not find them a pleasant experience. I like

630
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 2: them now, but yeah, as a kid, it was a

631
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 2: bit much. I also thought balloons were just a loud

632
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 2: noise waiting to happen. So you know, probably some probably

633
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 2: some conclusions we can draw from that, But I was like,

634
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 2: you know, forty five years ago, so I'm gonna just

635
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 2: set that aside. But yeah, I am a big fan

636
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 2: of fireworks these days, and in fact, I really would

637
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 2: love to sit down and talk with someone who has

638
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 2: worked on a coordinator level on like big, big fireworks displays,

639
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 2: something like a Disney World display, or a big Fourth

640
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,880
Speaker 2: of July celebration or a New Year's Eve celebration, that

641
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 2: sort of thing, just to talk about the kind of

642
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,440
Speaker 2: planning that goes into it and how much of it

643
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 2: is plotted down and how much of it is left

644
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 2: to you know, some element of chance because you don't

645
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 2: have control over all the factors you can't control, for example,

646
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 2: the wind. That kind of thing.

647
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 1: I would love to have a conversation with someone. So

648
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: I'm going to be on the lookout to kind of

649
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 1: talk about that because I think, you know, there's the

650
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: other fascinating aspect of fireworks technology, which comes down to

651
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: crafting a show through explosives. It's just something there's something

652
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: interesting about the elegance of crafting a show mixed with

653
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: the you know, for lack of a better word, the

654
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:02,400
Speaker 1: violence of explosions, and I really would love to learn

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Speaker 1: more about it. Anyway, I hope that you are all

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00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 1: having a safe Fourth of July in the United States

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00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: or otherwise, whether you are celebrating or you are just

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00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 1: going through a regular July day. For those of you

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Speaker 1: who are celebrating, please please, please, please be careful. Every

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00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 1: year we see news items about people who have become

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00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,919
Speaker 1: injured through you know, working with fireworks, so you want

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00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 1: to be very careful. Don't take that lightly. It's important

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Speaker 1: to have fun, but more important, I think, to stay

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Speaker 1: safe and healthy. And with that, I'll talk to you

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00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For

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00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,839
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. You mean