from LARRY CRUMP’S FIREWORKS PAGES
— Larry Crump is a licensed pyrotechnician who has fired professional firework displays for over twenty-seven years.
— UPDATE: Larry Crump died suddenly Sunday, June 30, 2002 of unexpected complications from a surgery he had received in 1966.
- Larry Crump writes:
- RED: Strontium compounds;
- YELLOW: Sodium compounds;
- GREEN: Barium compounds;
- BLUE: Copper compounds plus a chlorine producer;
- PURPLE: a mixture of strontium and copper compounds;
- GOLD: charcoal or lampblack;
- SILVER: burning titanium, aluminum or magnesium powder or flakes.
I continually receive a number of inquiries about what makes the different colors in fireworks. Let’s first tell you that the points of light ejected from aerial shells, Roman candles, etc., are called STARS, in the fireworks industry. They are pellets of chemicals that burn in different colors, depending on what chemicals are used in them. Stars generally have the four following things in them: A fuel to burn, oxygen producing chemical(s), color producing chemical(s) and a binder chemical to keep the star “glued” together. The different color producing chemicals normally used are:
