The attractive part of fireworks at festivals
For any festival, for making it colourful and attractive, it has become an accepted norm to nclude fire works at the end. This is more so in the festivals related to temples, churches, etc. One of the major factor which made the famous Thrissur Pooram so attractive and popular is nothing but the competitive fireworks. In the following article a short description about the techniques behind making the fireworks colourful are presented
No festivals are complete without fireworks at the end. Tourists from various countries converge at Thrissur to witness the Thrissur Pooram mainly because of the caparisoned elephants' parade and the fireworks at the end. For Thrissur Pooram the fireworks become more attractive because of the competition between the two major temples participating in the Pooram festival. In elephants' parade also competition is there.
The fireworks attracts the attention in two ways, one because of its sound and the other its colourful appearance. The sound may not be liked by all, especially the children. But the different combinations of colours in the form of fire balls emanating from it in the sky as a result of the explosion attract everybody. It becomes a memorable site for everybody who see it once.
The raw materials used for making these explosives are potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal. These in a particular proportion are mixed and packed appropriately as explosives. For burning it makes use of the oxygen coming out from the potassium nitrate (thereby the nitrate becomes nitrite) and when the temperature rises further chemical reactions take place. Resulting products will be gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. When the temperature level is high these gases will have very high volume compared to the solid form of the raw materials. This is the reason for the high sound produced while exploding, especially since all these chemical reactions take place within a very short period.
We know that the sun light (white light) is composed of different colours. If it passes through a prism, we find seven colours (rainbow colours). So if these colours are mixed it must result in white colour.
Light rays are electro-magnetic waves. The colour of the rays depend on the wave length. The wave length of light approximately falls between 380 and 780 nano meters. If the wave length is between 620 to 780 nm. the colour will be red. When it is between 380 and 420 nm. the colour will be violet. All other colours lie in between this range.
In fireworks the different colours are produced with the help of various metallic salts mixed while making the explosive such as Lithium Carbonate, Strontium Carbonate, Calcium chloride, Sodium Chloride, Copper chloride, etc. Electrons of these salts receiving heat energy from the burned explosives shoot up with high energy level and come down after emitting the light energy. The energy level of the electrons in the metallic salts in the explosive and the temperature level at the time of explosion decide the colour of the fire balls coming out. Blue colour is obtained if copper chloride is used. Similarly colour orange from calcium chloride, red from lithium carbonate, yellow from sodium chloride and green from barium chloride are obtained.
However, the fire works become attractive only if the mixing of all these chemicals are done very cautiously. Even a small amount of sodium salt may overshadow other colours with yellow colour. Hence expertise in the work is a major factor in preparing for a good and attractive fire work.
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