When is the Pyrotechnics Festival?

IDP!!! PROJECTS ON PYROTECHNICS?

• ok....long story short, i have a major project i have to do for school and my group picked pyrotechnics...problem is we cant think of something that we can make a scale model of, do SAFE AND LEGAL experiments to show the math, write a 20 page book on the its history, and show the science behind it....... WE NEED IDEAS PLZ! something AFFORDABLE, safe, LEGAL, and easy to experiment with (this project is presented to ALL the teachers and 9th grade students!) ...so any SAFE ideas would be appreciated

• Answer:

  Well, you shouldn't have too much problem getting 20 pages of info - you can discuss the discovery of gunpowder, early (chinese) fireworks, modern pyrotechnics (fireworks, demolition, mining, warfare), as well as the basic scientific principles (substances with high chemical energy that gets converted rapidly to heat and expanding gases) etc. I can think of 2 things you might use for an interesting demo: 1. Get videos of the controlled demolition of large buildings. These are always cool. You should be able to find these on the web. 2. Get some "party poppers". (You know, those things where you pull the string, and it goes "pop" and shoots streamers out). You can open your presentation by popping these into the audience, and then show one taken apart, and explain how the chemical energy in the little tube is activated by friction with the string, which ignites the chemicals; the expanding gas then blows out the streamers and makes the "pop". (Maybe have some friends in the audience with them too, to spread the effect out through the whole auditorium!) MAKE SURE you ok this ahead of time with your teacher, but it's a safe and attention-getting way to demonstrate pyrotechnics! Other examples of pyrotechnics might be a) matches, and b) caps. Show how the energy in a match is released by striking it, show how a cap can be ignited by a small amount of mechanical force, which releases the energy. I'm pretty sure you should NOT consider bringing a cap gun to school!!! Even though it's harmless, you still may wind up as headlines in the local paper, which wouldn't be cool! You can set off caps with a nail and hammer, or some other non-weapon type of arrangement.