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How to Create the Colors in Fireworks

In the 1830s, Italian pyrotechnics discovered that by replacing Potassium Nitrate with Potassium Chlorate, they could increase a firework's combustion temperature from 1700 to 2000 degrees Celsius. Increased temperature facilitates a wider range of chemical combinations, allowing for colored fireworks. Colored fireworks are created by adding metal salts to the composition -- copper oxychloride for blue, strontium for red and barium for green explosions. Different combinations of these metallic salts can create many color variations.

Things You'll Need

Potassium perchlorate
Pine root pitch (fuel)
Rice starch (binder)
Strontium or lithium carbonate (red)
Calcium chloride/sulfate (orange)
Sodium nitrate or cryolite (yellow/gold)
Barium chloride (green)
Copper acetoarsenite/chloride (blue)
Magnesium powder (silver)
Scale &scoop

Instructions

- 1
  Zero out your scale so the scoop is not accounted for during the weighing process.
- 2
  Scoop potassium perchlorate, in the scooper, onto the scale. Note the weight and divide it by .67. This will give you the total weight of the final powder mixture, a critical number in defining how much of each chemical to mix into the potassium perchlorate. For example, if the scoop weighs 3 ounces, the final mixture should weigh 4.47 ounces.
- 3
  Dump the potassium perchlorate into a firework canister or onto a fire-proof surface for color testing.
- 4
  Multiply your final mixture weight by .135 to find the weight of the desired colorant and pine root pitch to be added to the mixture. using the same example, .6 ounces of each should be scooped, weighed and dumped into the potassium perchlorate sub-straight.
- 5
  Multiply your final mixture weight by .06 to find the weight of the binder needed. Pour the binder over the mixture and mix the chemicals together evenly. You've now successfully added chemicals to a basic firework sub-straight to create colors.

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