Copper Salt makes a blue fireball

Strontium Salt = makes a red fireball

thats what mondialsaq site says, i personally have never heard of these salts

but im wondering, is there a way u can buy these? and if u burn them does it make a blue/red color (lol)?

I really don't have a clue.

Which site is this? It sounds interesting....

Trav.

Fireballs? hmm I dont know about fireballs, but I bet it would work...

Copper nitrate is being used for blue stars, although deeper shades of blue would require this toxic copper salt known as Copper acetoarsenite.

Strontium is the standard for making red colored stars
These include Strontium Chloride and Strontium Nitrate.

Barium salts would produce green flames and stars

If you burn copper sulfate, it would produce a bluish green flame, yes Likewise a red flame for strontium.

These sites below may prove useful

http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/staffresources/lecdem/of5.htm

http://genchem.chem.wisc.edu/demonstrations/Gen_Chem_Pages/07atomicstr uctpage/flame_test_2.htm

http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa110401a.htm

Just to add, if you are curious, you can experiment by having an alcohol lamp, or just filling a small bowl with alcohol (denatured), and burning it. It should produce a nice blueish flame.

Now you can take some table salt, and sprinkle over it, it should produce an orange flame. Take some barium salt and you should get some green flames, if you want blue flames, just sprinkle copper sulfate

And you can try intensifying the colors with parlon or PVC. These are used in stars to amplify colors.

For some neat action, take some aluminium filings (yes file aluminium foil) and sprinkle it, you would see nice white sparks. Take iron fillings and you will see orange sparks.

My favorite being charcoal. Take some charcoal and grind it, and sprinkle it over the flame... It would produce some long lasting sparks that fly into the air... These are used in long comet trails

Enjoy, remember please play safe!

Just to note that copper nitrate is not normally used in pyrotechnics - it is far too hygroscopic. "Paris Green" (copper acetoarsenite) is also very rarely used these days because of its toxicity.

Blue light emission comes from CuCl molecular species in the flame, but this particular emitter is not stable at high temperatures. This is the challenge to make a blue star that is also bright since the brightness is usually a function of temperature. To produce the CuCl a copper salt (often the oxide or oxychloride) is used together with a chlorine doner, one of the best being parlon. PVC contains a lot of carbon which tends to whiten the flame. The trick in blue stars is to use a fuel/oxidiser combination which keeps the temperature low enough for CuCl to be stable.

For other coloured stars, again the monochloride molecular species is often the emitter so chlorine donors are used in these too. Strontium, as noted, produces red and barium produces green. Yellow can be produced by sodium, but this is a very deep orange-like yellow. Lemon yellows can be made by a careful mixture of red and green producing
formulae.

Take a look at http://cc.oulu.fi/~kempmp/colours.html for some of the chemistry involved. See also http://huizen.dds.nl/~wfvisser/compoDB.html for some formulae, but note that without knowledge of the method and processing involved, a formula alone could be dangerous, potentially fatal, as well as illegal to make without the appropriate equipment and licences.

Paul..

im not planning to do dangerous illegal stuffs, i mean im not crazy enought to makes huge fireworks like Mondial Saqs lmao

but i just want to do very little ones like the ones in birthday (i think its named sparkles) nothing dangerous

Scypher, thx for the tips, i will check out what i can do in the weekend, ill msg

I believe I'll do the same, when it comes to pyrotechnics. I'll play it safe and only use tiny birthday fireworks for my next birthday or little celebrations.

Thx for that web site, Paul, I'm still going through the some of the chemistry that is involved in stars and other kinds as well. It's pretty interesting stuff, I mean to produce different effects, like colours, using different mixtures and compounds. There is a lot of chemistry here.

It seems that a lot of elements are involved in pyrotechnics, but yes, I strongly agree with you, some of these formulae can be potentially fatal! You must have training and be an expert in this field of study, plus you must be licensed! We''ll stick to the little ones!

Mixing different elements and creating formulae in pyrotechnics can be dangerous.

Anyway, thx for the little tips, Scypher. I'll probably try some at home, the little ones!

Whatever type of pyrotechnics you are using, just remember to keep safe.

Thanks again.

Trav.

That's quite interesting. You seem to know your stuff.

Trav.

I don't think anyone uses stronium chloride - it is far too hygroscopic. Even strontium nitrate has to be protected from absorbing too much moisture.

There was a fire in Calgary (I believe it was in a truck carrying shells) that was believed due to stars containing strontium nitrate and magnesium. The SrN03 absorbed water, which reacted with the magnesium, giving off enough heat to cause the stars to catch fire. There are safter alternatives which don't absorb water so readily.

As III started to say above, Barium salts are used to produce green fire. Copper also produces green, but only in the absence of chlorine. In the presence of chlorine, blue is produced but the molecular copper chloride emitter is only stable at relatively low temperatures which is part of the reason that blue stars are not as bright as other colours. Pyrotechnic chemistry is a fascinating subject!

Cheers,

Paul.

Believe me Paul, pyroyechnic chemistry is really fascinating. I don't know much about the chemistry of pyrotechnics, but I do know some general chemistry. I'm familiar with some of these compounds and I am well aware of what they're capable of doing.

It's very interesting in how many chemicals and compounds are used in the area of pyrotechnics. It really is extraordinary in knowing which chemical gives off a certain colour or what causes the glitter, etc.

Hey Paul, do you know how many estimated chemicals and compounds are used in the field of pyrotechnics? I find it interesting.

Regards,

Trav.

if i should design a fireworks display what salts would i use and why?

what color would an amonium, lithium, barium, sodium, potassium, calcium, and copper salt produce? hope to hear from you as soon as possible..now,.... thnx.

Macor,

I'm sure that many of these elements produce various types of colour depending on what they're mixed with. Like I said before, they're many elements and compounds invloved in the field of pyrotechnics.

Barium salts produce a greenish fire colour, as Paul said above. You can get more info on this web site. Paul had posted it up in his post above, so I'll just put it down again for you. I've taken a look at it before. It explains a lot of chemistry of pyrotechnics, including different mixtures that result in certain varieties of colour, using different elements and compounds. It gives good information. Quite fascinating, really.

http://cc.oulu.fi/~kempmp/colours.html

Trav.