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Difficulty Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Difficulty Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Parental supervision not required, but recommended.
Parental supervision not required, but recommended.
Background
Background
If you've ever been to Disneyland, you probably stayed late to see the amazing firework show light up the sky. Have you ever wondered how fireworks work or wondered if you could create them yourself? If you have, you’re in luck! By learning about the science behind fireworks, we can take a deeper dive into how we can recreate their appearance with safe fireworks at home!
Here is a quick video to learn about different types of fireworks, how they work, and their basic elements!
Isn’t it interesting how fireworks ignite in the sky ultimately because of gunpowder? Now that we know the basics, we can look a little closer into Aerial fireworks. Aerial fireworks are what you probably know best from events like the fourth of July. They are large colorful and shoot amazing effects into the sky.
Inside each firework, there is a shell. The shell is made up of heavy paper and acts as a container for the stars, gun powder, bursting charge, and fuse.
Stars are spheres, cubes, or cylinders that have a sparkler-like composition. (sparklers consist of a fuel- gun powder, an oxidizer- potassium nitrate, iron/steel powder, and a binder- sugar/starch).
Gun powder is made up of several substances that allow it to burn fast.
Bursting charge is a firecracker-like charge a the center of the shell (firecrackers consist of gunpowder or flash powder)
A Fuse is a fabric string connected to the charge which provides a time delay
Colors come from metal salts being heated. The stars can be covered with different types of metals, so when they burn, the light of the firework will change color. For example, copper creates blue.
When the fuse burns, it ignites the bursting charge which launches the firework. When it finally reaches the shell, the powders react creating an explosion of colors!
The Experiment
The Experiment
Now that we know exactly how fireworks work, are you ready to create your own fireworks in a jar? These fireworks may not have the same science as we just learned, but, they use food coloring, water, and oil to create tiny colorful explosions in a Jar!
What You'll Need:
What You'll Need:
A mason jar (or something similar to a mason jar, like a jam jar)
Water
4 tablespoons of oil
4 different colors of food coloring (ex. red, yellow, blue, & green)
A mixing utensil (ex. fork)
Experiment Steps:
Experiment Steps:
Fill your jar ¾ of the way full with warm water
In a separate bowl, place 3-4 tablespoons of oil and 4 drops of each of the different colors of food coloring
Use a fork (or another utensil) to GENTLY mix the oil and food coloring together
GENTLY pour the oil mixture into the jar
Watch the magic!
Explanation
Explanation
When you complete the experiment, you will see that the food coloring will slowly sink out of the oil and into the water where it will expand and mix with other colors. How does this work?
Oil is less dense than water, so when you pour it into the jar of water, it will stay afloat at the top. The food coloring droplets are heavier than oil, so the color will sink. As the color sinks, it will begin to dissolve which will look like tiny explosions.
Additional Notes
Additional Notes
You can add more color to see more color explosions or try the experiment on a bigger scale by doubling the size of the materials in the experiment.
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