Sunday, July 4, 2010

July 4th is a Chemistry Holiday

It's just not July 4th without fireworks, and fireworks are all about chemistry!

I'm attending a chemistry workshop in Connecticut and have science on the brain (anyone else out there spend their Independence Day deriving the Nernst equation??), so July 4th brings to mind the science behind fireworks.

  • Check out this NOVA website for a neat description of the anatomy of a firework.
  • Here's a C&E News article about environmentally friendly fireworks
  • While watching the show tonight, you can figure out which chemicals are in the fireworks, based on color. Here's a nifty chart correlating which compounds produce which colors:
Color Compound
Red strontium salts, lithium salts
lithium carbonate, Li2CO3 = red
strontium carbonate, SrCO3 = bright red
Orange calcium salts
calcium chloride, CaCl2
calcium sulfate, CaSO4·xH2O, where x = 0,2,3,5
Gold incandescence of iron (with carbon), charcoal, or lampblack
Yellow sodium compounds
sodium nitrate, NaNO3
cryolite, Na3AlF6
Electric White white-hot metal, such as magnesium or aluminum
barium oxide, BaO
Green barium compounds + chlorine producer
barium chloride, BaCl+ = bright green
Blue copper compounds + chlorine producer
copper acetoarsenite (Paris Green), Cu3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 = blue
copper (I) chloride, CuCl = turquoise blue
Purple mixture of strontium (red) and copper (blue) compounds
Silver burning aluminum, titanium, or magnesium powder or flakes

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