Thank Planet Science for that Wired-Up FRIDAY feeling! Here’s what’s coming up in our Bonfire Night Special:

1. PLANET PICKS – Visit the Planet Science website for some firework fun and facts!
2. TRY THIS – An explosive experiment for you to try at home.
3. SPOTLIGHT ON – Here’s how a career in chemistry can be especially exciting...
4. GEAR FOR GRABS – Find the words linked with Bonfire Night and you could win an electronics kit!
   
   

But even if it does, then fear not, because you’ll find your very own fireworks display on the Planet Science website! By clicking here: http://www.planet-science.com/outthere/index.html you’ll be able to safely set your own fireworks off with a click of your mouse. Not only will you go “oooh” and “ahhh” over the pretty colours but you’ll also be treated to some top firework facts too.

Of course, you should never play with fireworks in real life so why not brush up on your Firework Safety Code at the same time here? http://www.welephant.co.uk/Bonfirestory020.htm

Stuff You Need:

• The plastic canister from a 35 mm camera film including the lid (the film canister MUST be one with a cap that fits INSIDE the rim instead of over the outside of the rim)
• Sticking tack
• An ‘effervescent’ tablet (this can be an indigestion tablet, like Alka-Seltzer, or a vitamin C tablet, but it must be the ‘fizzy’ type). You must ask an adult which tablet is suitable.
• Eye protection (sunglasses for example)

What You Do:

1. Fill the canister about a quarter full with water.
2. Break the tablet into four pieces.
3. Use sticking tack to stick one piece of tablet to the underside of the lid.
4. Carefully put the lid onto the canister. Make sure the tablet doesn’t fall off and the lid is a tight fit.
5. Put your eye protection on and turn the canister upside-down, put it on the ground and quickly retreat to a safe distance.
   It may be a minute or two before your rocket takes off – be patient!

What’s Going On?

When you turn the canister over, the water mixes with the tablet. A chemical reaction between them releases carbon dioxide gas. The gas pressure builds up in the canister until it blows the lid off. The water in the canister is forced out so it applies a force back on the canister, shooting it up into the air, and it behaves like a rocket.

Hello Ron! How are fireworks made?

“A firework is a tube which contains small explosives packed in a type of gunpowder. This is called black powder. A piece of chemically-treated string sits in the black powder and sticks out of the top of the tube. This is called a fuse. An adult lights the fuse, which ignites the black powder and the firework shoots up into the sky.

The colours and loudness of the firework depend on what sort of small explosives you put in the black powder. The order in which they are placed in the black powder defines what sort of pattern the colours make and what sort of noise you get. If a firework shoots up and fires once, then fires again, it has more than one section (or chamber) to it. The chambers are connected by a fuse which delays the firing of the second lot of explosives.”

How do you make different-coloured fireworks?

“The explosives in fireworks are made of chemicals. Here’s a list of some that are used and the effect they have:

Aluminium		Silvery-white flashes
Antimony		Silver glitter effects
Copper carbonate		Blue
Cryolite		Yellow
Iron		Silver
Magnesium		Very bright white
Sodium salicylate		Whistling noise
Strontium carbonate		Red”

So there must be a lot of science involved in making fireworks?

“Yes, and a chemistry degree will be useful if this is what you want to do. If you want to change the mixture for a certain firework then you need to know the characteristics of the chemicals and metals you are dealing with. Knowledge of physics and maths will help too.”

Thanks Ron, and if you too fancy a career in fireworks then why not take a look at another bright spark on the BBC website? http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/justthejob/followyourdream/punch/a.shtml

From bright sparks to an electronic kit for bright sparks up for grabs! This week Wired-Up is giving you the chance to win an Electric City electronics kit from Logiblocs. Inside the kit is everything you need to make your very own electronic circuits to create a door alarm, a light breaker, a water sensor and to test your logical skills.

If you want to be entered into the draw then print off the word search (pdf download 132k) and find all the words listed below. Once you have crossed off all the words, you will be left with 9 letters. Write down the letters in the order they appear in the word search (from left to right) and you should spell a chemical used in fireworks to make a very bright white colour.

ROMAN CANDLE	ROCKET	FLARE
STAR BLASTER	FIRE FLOWER	SPARKLER
BONFIRE	GUY	DISPLAY
SKY	FUSE	GUNPOWDER
COLOURS	BANGER	EXPLODE
FLY

                                                      

Once you’ve found the chemical, send it along with your name, age and address to: wired-up.news@nesta.org.uk with ‘I KNOW THE CHEMICAL!’ in the subject box. You will then be entered into the draw on Thursday at 5pm and the winner will be announced in next week’s Wired-Up.

Good luck!

Got Wired-Up? Got clued up!

See you in seven...

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