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0:00
I'm pyrot technician Patrick San here to answer your questions from the internet.
0:04
This is Fireworks Support.
0:09
At actl FN asks, how do fireworks go up?
0:12
Do it have a small fan underneath?
0:15
What's up with that?
0:15
No, fireworks don't have a small fan that's underneath them.
0:18
What they do have is a lift charge.
0:18
So when you put the firework into the tube, the first thing that ignites on the bottom is the lift charge, which sends the firework up into the air and then it explodes once it reaches its maximum altitude.
0:30
Typically, a firework will go up 70 ft per inch of shell.
0:32
Professional fireworks displays could be either 3-in, 4-in, 5-in, or 6-in.
0:40
So if you have a 3-in firework shell, it'll go up 210 ft into the air, and that's determined by the lift charge inside of it.
0:40
There's other methods of putting the firework up into the air these days.
0:40
Disney is using pneumatic or air devices to blow the firework up into the air instead of using an actual explosion, so that cuts down on a lot of the smoke that you see during a firework display.
0:57
At brn asks, I wonder how fireworks are designed.
1:00
I have a model here.
1:02
This is a cutaway model of a large display shell.
1:04
The first thing that happens is the lift charge explodes, which creates a lot of gas and fire and pushes the entire shell out of the tube.
1:13
At the same time the lift charge gets ignited, the time fuse starts its path up towards the burst charge.
1:18
Now, depending on how big the firework shell is, that'll determine how long the time fuse is before it gets all the way up to the burst charge, which then will explode the fireworks shell in the sky.
1:27
This is an example of a smiley face shell.
1:28
They lay the stars in a pattern to create exactly what shape they want, and then when the shell goes up into the sky and it bursts, those stars spread outwards.
1:36
Now, this is why you don't always see the smiley face perfect, because it's a round ball that's traveling through the sky.
1:42
You might see the firework upside down.
1:43
You might see a straight line like this, or if you're lucky, you might actually get the full smiley face.
1:48
At Athena bread asks, why do fireworks smell so gross?
1:51
So I think that would be a matter of opinion.
1:54
If you asked myself or other pyrot technicians, I think we would say, he who has smelled the smell is never free again.
2:01
And that smoke mainly contains sulfur.
2:01
The sulfur is one of the main components in black powder, which consists of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal.
2:01
Without the sulfur, the black powder wouldn't be able to burn as rapidly, and it would more fizzle out rather than create a rapid explosion of fire.
2:01
When the sulfur burns, it creates a chemical called sulfur dioxide, which produces that nasty rotten egg smell that you're smelling.
2:01
At Johnny V 453 asks, how do electronic firing systems work for firework displays?
2:01
So electronic firing systems have three main components: the remote, the module, and the igniter, or the e-match.
2:01
The modules will go out in the field near to the fireworks.
2:37
They can be either wired or wireless.
2:38
They typically go about 9 ft from the fireworks themselves, because that's the average length of an e-match.
2:47
Each terminal will represent a different firework that will go off.
2:47
So this terminal might go at the 3-second mark of the show, but this terminal might go for the finale.
2:47
When the button is pressed on the remote, the signal will go to the module, then igniting the end of the electric match tip, which will then ignite the firework.
2:47
Electric matches have a special chemical composition on the end of them that when voltage goes through them, it creates a bright flash and spark which ignites fireworks.
3:09
There's also a protective shroud that usually goes over the match tip because they're friction sensitive to make sure that you don't accidentally have an issue where it'll ignite due to friction igniting your fireworks prematurely.
3:17
Now, electronic firing systems can work in two ways.
3:21
You can either do it manually, where you press one button at a time and each firework will go off, or you can choreograph it on the computer.
3:43
At Bon Ward asks, fireworks shows are so funny because like for the first few minutes you're like, whoa, that's cool, and then for the next 10 minutes you're like, so that was the finale, right? And then it keeps going.
3:43
So to capture the audience's attention in a professional firework display, we like to build in little sequences into the display that create false finales or mini finales, and then we continue with the body of the display until we reach the actual finale.
3:43
One of the ways we do that is with choreographing software to ensure that you don't have any dead air or what we call sky puke, is where you have too much fireworks in the sky.
3:43
The lines along the bottom of the screen represent fireworks along a timeline.
3:43
You could put down a musical track, and then each of the fireworks could be set off right at a certain beat or note of the song.
4:09
So these lines show the height of the firework and where they will break.
4:13
Certain fireworks will go up to 210 ft, others will go up to 280, 350 ft.
4:18
This display is for a custom wedding, which was two songs long.
4:21
So this one happens to be a 6-minute custom pyromusical finale.
4:25
3D is the most widely used choreographing software for fireworks.
4:29
This software can also be used as a simulation for customers.
4:31
We can make a video of the fireworks ahead of time and then show it to the customer to see if that's what they want based on the music and the choreographing that we design.
4:39
At Ice Eagle 76 asks, where are most fireworks made?
4:42
There's one province in China where almost all the fireworks are made.
4:46
That's where all of the black powder is sorted.
4:48
That's where all of the casings are made.
4:50
That's where all of your consumer fireworks and your display fireworks that you see on the 4th of July are packaged and processed before they're shipped out to other countries.
4:57
At Dave from UPN North asks, fireworks only fire at a certain height, meaning you are safe to fly above and be safe.
5:04
When you're doing a professional fireworks display, you do have to notify the FAA, and you have to get a notice to all Airmen, which is called the NOTAM.
5:13
A NOTAM notifies the FAA and all planes flying in the area that there will be a firework display from a certain time up to a certain altitude.
5:13
We'll also try to reach out to any pilots in the area and they'll warn us, hey, if you fire at us, we'll fire back.
5:13
We do a lot of fireworks shows near Air Force bases.
5:13
The Air Force might have flying maneuvers and stuff that they can't reschedule, so what we have to do is at that point is pause the firework display, make sure that it's safely out of our airspace, and then we could resume the firework display afterwards.
5:13
At SCI Fry Ebooks asks, how do fireworks get their colors?
5:13
The main component in fireworks is black powder.
5:13
Black powder consists of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, and this when burned creates more of an orange fire.
5:46
Black powder has different consistencies.
5:48
The finer black powder burns rapidly and it's used for things like a burst charge in the sky where you need a big rapid explosion, whereas the coarser black powder would be used for more of a lift charge where you need a lot of fire to create the burst up in the sky.
5:59
To create the reds, the greens, the blues, and the whites, you add coloring agents such as barium, strontium, copper.
5:59
This is strontium carbonate.
5:59
It's a coloring agent that's added to black powder.
5:59
It's what's used to create the red color.
5:59
Some of the more difficult colors to do are bright whites, which create a lot of magnesium, titanium, and this powder would be an aluminum powder which creates the loud bangs and explosions in salutes or reports.
5:59
A salute is just the bang that you hear, so aluminum is the main component in that and it creates the bright flash and the loud noise.
5:59
At Adir MM asks, remember that time when San Diego's entire fireworks show went off and was over in 30 seconds?
5:59
Oops.
5:59
Yeah, I remember that.
5:59
I think a lot of people that were there agreed, it's definitely one of the most spectacular fireworks shows they've ever seen.
5:59
Firing systems all run off of electricity, so it could have been a surge of electricity.
5:59
It could have been some sort of malfunction, which the computer decided it was going to fire all cues at once.
5:59
There's lots of things that could go wrong during a professional firework display.
5:59
The mortar could detonate inside of the firework tube, which could create an explosion, sending all the other firework tubes around it to lay in a manner where when they blow off, the firework's not pointing straight up in the air anymore, it could be pointing towards the audience, the spectators, the crew.
5:59
And one thing I could say about pyro is when we make a mistake once, we tend to not make it again.
7:18
At BSH Hoop asks, what was the last innovation in fireworks?
7:23
Purple?
7:23
Actually, purple's been around for a decent amount of time.
7:26
Purple is a combination of both red and blue coloring agent.
7:29
I would say one of the more recent innovations in fireworks would be the introduction of the Ghost Shell.
7:34
In a Ghost Shell, you have stars that burn in the sky that are covered with a powder where they don't show their color as they're burning in the first part of the display, so you don't see the flash in the sky, and then these will start burning in the sky creating what looks like a fade pattern.
7:47
Some other innovations that I would say have taken place recently in the firework industry would be Disney's use of microchips to explode the fireworks into the sky instead of using a time fuse.
7:56
The microchips are controlled by a radio frequency signal, and when they reach the right part in the sky or the right part in the song, they'll go off perfectly to make sure that they're synchronized exactly as they should be.
8:07
Another cool innovation in fireworks isn't just in the fireworks themselves, but in the way that the fireworks are lit.
8:12
So what people are doing now is they're taking comets, which create the large streak across the sky, and they're putting them in different patterns in different racks and then firing them with electronic firing systems to the exact right timing where each comet is at a different angle.
8:26
It creates a perfect parabolic effect, which looks like a geometric shape in the sky.
8:35
At Terra Monique asks, who invented fireworks?
8:33
Like who is the first person to put this together?
8:35
I'm guessing it was an accident.
8:37
So approximately 2,000 years ago, a Chinese cook mixed together three common kitchen ingredients of the time: saltpeter, which is potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
8:47
Shortly after realizing that this combination of fireworks created an explosion, they started experimenting and putting them into capsules or bamboo sticks to contain the explosion.
8:47
These became the first version of a firecracker.
8:47
These bamboo sticks were then used as a tradition to ward off evil spirits in the Chinese culture.
8:47
At Danberry Patch asks, statistically, what is the most dangerous firework?
8:47
So statistically, the most dangerous firework is a sparkler.
8:47
Sparklers can burn at up to 2,000 degrees.
8:47
Parents and caregivers might think of this as the least dangerous firework and leave children unattended or unsupervised with these, causing more injuries than you would realize.
8:47
In my opinion, mortars these days can be fairly dangerous as well.
8:47
Mortars are the larger fireworks that you hear when you see those large bangs in the sky.
9:29
These create the big explosions.
9:35
This would be your standard size mortar tubes that you could buy off the shelf at a consumer store.
9:35
A mortar tube used in a professional display could be 3, 6, or even up to 12 in.
9:40
So typically what you would do with a mortar shell is get the fuse to its longest point, drop it down the tube, leave enough outside, and then light the end of the fuse.
9:49
You see the green fuse, which is called visco fuse.
9:53
It's called a safety fuse.
9:53
This buys you enough time where you could safely get away from the firework before it launches up into the air.
9:58
There's lots of things that could go wrong with mortar shells when using them.
10:01
Most people don't realize they could go in either way, and it's very hard to see if you're using it at night which way is the right way.
10:06
The shell could be put down into the firework upside down, or the actual mortar tube might malfunction.
10:11
The professional mortar tube is going to be made out of an HDPE or high-density polyethylene plastic, so instead of fracturing or fragmenting if the firework would accidentally explode inside of it, it would just expand, so it doesn't send any fragments or shrapnel anywhere.
10:28
Most consumer fireworks are made out of a cheaper fiberglass material, so you always want to be aware that when you are using them, you have it faced in the right direction and always have a sober adult in charge.
10:36
At Bloody Red 08 asks, why did they have to ban M80s for the children?
10:41
It was decided in 1966 that too many bodily injuries to children were occurring as a result of M80s, and they were taken entirely off the market.
10:50
That doesn't mean you can't find an M80 today.
10:50
Unfortunately, many black marketplaces are still manufacturing M80s to fill the void and to fill the demand that's still there for people that still want that big bang.
10:50
An M80 will contain about 3 G of flash powder in comparison to a stick of dynamite, which can contain up to 190 G of powder.
10:50
Flash powder is a mixture of black powder and other heavy metals that create the bright flash like aluminum or magnesium.
10:50
So although these are a lot less dangerous and contain less powder than a stick of dynamite, they're still banned from the market.
10:50
After September 11th, fireworks containing over a certain amount of powder were pulled off the market so that way they could be misused, opened up, and the powder could be used for various purposes other than displaying fireworks.
11:33
At Dr. Kevo asks, what kind of fireworks is your favorite?
11:38
I like the gold drippy drippy.
11:38
So do I.
11:38
So the gold drippy drippy are actually the most favorite firework among most pyrot technicians.
11:44
They come from Japan.
11:44
They have special chemicals in the black powder which allow them to rain down to the ground slightly longer than a normal firework would, giving you that lasting gold impression in the air.
11:54
Traditional firework displays, when they have this effect, it'll occur as the finale because it's really the most dangerous firework in the firework display.
12:03
You're going to have fire all around you, so you don't really want that to happen during the entire display because you could have fires all over the place as a result of the fire hitting the ground.
12:11
I'm not saying that the exact design is a secret, but it's not widely known as to how it's made.
12:19
There are a lot of people that try to recreate the effect, but the traditional Japanese Kamuro is definitely something that the Japanese do specifically well and really can't be recreated by many other people.
12:25
At Helium Kibs asks, how do idols stand on stage while pyrotechnics blast all around them?
12:34
I flinch watching it through a screen.
12:34
Fireworks used for the stage setting have a specific height and duration that they fire for.
12:34
They're also made in a laboratory setting as opposed to consumer fireworks, which are made in a factory.
12:34
So the fireworks that we use on stage and in theatrical performances are very safe, low fallout, so they don't have anything that's going to come down and burn.
12:34
Just like artists will get together and rehearse with their dancers and their band ahead of time, they also get together with their pyro crews and rehearse.
12:58
At Dub Woods asks, do fireworks even work in the rain?
13:01
Yes.
13:05
We do a lot of fireworks shows for weddings and what we tell our wedding clients is, you can't change your wedding date whether it's going to rain or not, so we have to make sure the fireworks are going to work in the rain regardless.
13:07
So what we do is we cover the firing systems, the modules, and the remotes themselves in plastic to make sure the weather doesn't affect them, and then we also wrap the fireworks in a small thin plastic as well, so that way when we fire it, it burns right through and goes right through the plastic.
13:24
So the rain isn't really an issue.
13:26
However, heavy winds and thunderstorms, so winds above 25 mph and thunder, will prohibit a firework display from happening.
13:33
At Christina AXB asks, you cannot convince me that there is a difference between consumer and professional fireworks.
13:39
Our neighborhood is insane right now.
13:41
The line between consumer and professional fireworks has been being pushed closer towards the professional fireworks.
13:47
Certain fireworks are being brought into the country as professional, but then rebranded and reclassified once they get here into consumer.
13:54
So yes, the consumer fireworks that you're seeing are definitely getting louder and bigger.
14:02
Now you have up to 3-in, even 4-in consumer shells that you could buy, which wasn't allowed previously.
14:03
At Kurt Broan asks, how does one go about becoming a fireworks pyrotechnician?
14:10
I would reach out to your local firework company or your local special effects company and see if they have any openings as maybe a volunteer.
14:10
You want to make sure you have the right temperament for it.
14:10
You have to be someone that's calm in the midst of chaos.
14:20
During a firework display, you have bombs going off all around you.
14:22
You might have several fires that might occur in the display site in the fallout area that have to be extinguished, and that's just part of doing business.
14:29
At Ibrahim Asher asks, how do you know if a firework is going to work when the fireworks manufacturer build a firework, do they test all the fireworks before they ship them out?
14:39
No.
14:39
Where do you think the term dud comes from?
14:41
It's mainly a firework term.
14:43
Part of the fun of fireworks comes in finding out whether it works or not.
14:47
You have to make sure that you know where you're getting most fireworks.
14:48
Have QR codes on them nowadays, so you could watch a video of what it is ahead of time, but make sure that you're getting a firework that's appropriate for the setting that you're using it in.
14:58
Don't get a firework that's going to go up several hundred feet in the air if you live in an apartment and you're using it in your parking lot.
15:02
At Artsy Honker asks, how does one safely dispose of a firework unused found in a shed?
15:07
We don't want to set it off and aren't sure how old it is.
15:11
Likely it's at least a few years old.
15:15
Smaller non-aerial fireworks can be soaked and then double wrapped in plastic bags and put in your normal garbage.
15:19
Larger aerial fireworks, you might want to reach out to a fire department and see if they could properly dispose of these fireworks for you.
15:30
At Kim Wiha asks, well, rest in peace to the Earth's ozone layer after tonight's fireworks.
15:30
So yes, fireworks obviously are a combustion effect and they do have some effect on the ozone layer.
15:36
But when you consider volcanoes, all the combustion from all the airplanes and jets and stuff like that, there's definitely other stuff that are contributing to the ozone layer.
15:43
Disney is actually the largest importer and user of fireworks in the country.
15:47
There is a myth that the ozone above Disney is totally charred, which means that's probably why most people are getting a little bit more tan at Disney World than they are around the rest of the world, but there's no evidence to support that.
15:59
At Sunflower Rose asks, why is South Carolina so obsessed with fireworks?
16:02
Been in the state for 15 minutes and already passed three fireworks stores.
16:06
There are certain laws in certain states that differentiate what fireworks can be used.
16:12
For example, in California and New Jersey, we're only allowed to use what's called safe and sane fireworks, which are sparklers, fountains, and novelties.
16:22
But other aerial states such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina could use the whole spectrum of fireworks: Roman candles, aerial cakes, mortar tubes, and likewise.
16:22
So these are all the questions for today.
16:22
Be safe out there, pyros.
16:22
Keep all your fingers.
16:22
This has been Fireworks Support.