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How to Make a Firework

Some of you may have seen the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” episode where Mike Rowe gets a taste of what goes into the making of fireworks. For those of you who have seen it, you’ll know it’s not easy. Hours goes into each 3 second blast of color, light, and, of course, noise. But what exactly takes so long to make, especially if the thing only lasts such a short time? The answer is elementary… literally. The mixtures that go into each firework are highly explosive and must be handled with extreme care and precision; the slightest static spark could explode a whole building. With this being said I should add, in the words of the great Mythbusters, “Do not try this at home!”

To see Mike Rowe making fireworks, click here @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7i0ekL21k8&NR=1 To make a firework, you need four basic things: a container, a fuse, a bursting charge, and stars. A container holds the black powder, stars, and fuse together. A firework will have one main fuse that lights two secondary fuses: the first fuse is fast-burning and ignites the lift charge while the second fuse is slow burning to light the stars once the firework is in the air. The bursting charge is what ignites the stars and creates the huge explosion. The stars are, well, the stars of the show. They are made up of material kind of like the material sprinklers are coated with; the stars give the fireworks their color and sparks. At the bottom of the container there is another cylindrical container that holds more black powder. This is the lift charge; the black powder explodes while the firework is still in the mortar (steel tube that firework is launched from) so that the firework is shot upward. Put it all together and you have a firework!

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