Do you geek out over the the light-sparkle-boom show we enjoy each Fourth of July? Our friends over at Boing Boing share the above chart posted by The Works, which shows us the chemicals that make each firework color.
And if you want to know more about how fireworks work, PBS has a pretty great interactive site.
What's your favorite kind of firework?
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And on a completely different but just as "uplifting" subject, may I propose that the Best New Thing In the World This Century is...
The flashmob.
Happy Fourth of July!
That was very cool! A "classy" flash mob indeed!
More!More!! How Cool.
I can't tell you how much I love you guys right now...Have a great Independence Day!
Also; Does anyone know if it will be prison on the 4th or do we get a TRMS?
I remember fireworks as something you could buy without a permit. Cherry bombs, Chinese poppers, salutes.
You could also buy a guns and ammo at the local hardware store. And every self respecting 10 year old carried a Barlow knife. To school.
What ever happened to snakes?
They slithered past airport security (no tough thing) and got on the plane.
DAY-3905329- This all started when they started to put"safety devices" on our lawnmowers in the 70's. A switch at the foot brake, the gearshift, and even under the seat on Dad's new mower. A pain if you had to get off and remove an obstacle. Quickly got the wire strippers and crimps and bypassed the lot of them. I guess it was determined that most folks were to ignorant to put it in neutral and very low idle or shut it off. If they couldn't figure that out they had no business on the thing in the first place.
Growing up with a chemist dad, every July 4th was filled with a review of "red is strontium, green is barium, yellow is sodium, ..." Glad BoingBoing and MaddowBlog are spreading the geekery.
My father had told me about the colorations when I was younger. He had shown me how to make fireworks and firecrackers. He did this as a teen in the 40's and made money from the folks in the neighborhood. We got the non-explosive ingredients from someone he knew that legally distributed them for industry. We were the hit of the neighborhood on the 4th until some "fun-governor" told ther authorities and we told "Nope, can't do it 'cause you're not licensed. You can keep your stuff and here's a ticket. The nerve of the judge to call my father "irresponsible". I can't imagine what would happen nowadays. We made our own carbide cannon. I got into model rocketry and made my own, but bought the engines. Dad was amused when I made a tennis ball launcher from pop cans and lighter fluid, and later upgraded it to galvanized pipe and an M80. With the assistance of my boys, we are making a spud gun soon. I still have all of my digits. What dad instilled in me was the appreciation and marvelling for science, a hands-on experience. But still, things that go boom are cool! I take my oldest son target practicing, am pro-gun AND anti-NRA. Ignorance breeds ineptitude and the Current Republicans (Help with mine and others moral actions.) In summary, in the last 30 almost 40 years we have raising WUSSIES and mechanically uninclined kids. (What kids work on their own bicycle any more? Do those bike helmets that look like half of a pistachio shell really work? They don't. When you fall you almost always tend to possibly kiss the ground. It doesn't protect your forehead, back of your head, or your temples. I DO wear my seatbelts in a car and wear a helmet (that covers my whole head!) when on a motorcycle. These people that have been raised in that despicable non-inertial environment have become parents that in the 80's that wanted the govenment help them raising their dull kids. Remember the PMRC? Nowadays some of those kids raised in the 80's have become some lousy, lazy parents. God forbid if my child, especially the boy ever gets hurt or (shudder) break a bone! Don't spend enough thorough,quality time with their kids. I experienced this working as a non-faculty worker and volunteer in the local school system. And in everyday life in our neighborhood. Brats have all the latest toys and gadgets, but don't know squat about how the most basic things or actions are made, work and their impact on their life. These are teens I'm talking about. In comparison to other kids, I'm glad my kids aren't normal. The psychological growth/emotional well-being of us as a species depends on deviation from the norm. Deviation from the norm promotes progress. Keeping as the status quo leads to stagnation and an endless multitude of empty souls and imagination(s).
I'm with you on people in general, esp. kids, being less mechanically inclined or even interested. BUT, I object to your denouncing certain modern safety items. A (bi)cycling helmet saved my dad's and my friend's lives. Yes, their helmets were crushed almost flat, but it was the helmet that was crushed, not their heads.