Sparklers are an indispensable attribute of any merry holiday - New Year, birthday (and not only for children), wedding. They cost a penny, are sold everywhere, absolutely safe for ignition indoors. However, people still continue to be interested in how to make a Bengal fire at home: to create colorful joy with children and interesting, and increases the anticipation of the holiday. Moreover, the process itself is simple, and the necessary substances are quite accessible.
Composition Recipes
Craftsmen came up with several ways to make a sparkler on their own. Depending on what is easier for you to get, you can choose any of the recipes. In one group we assign the compounds, which include without fail 50% of the total mass of barium nitrate and 12-14 percent of dextrin. Additional ingredients can be selected from the following list:
- From 6 to 8% of fine aluminum powder plus 30% of sawdust - necessarily steel and blued.
- The same amount of similar sawdust is added to the base, and the powder is replaced by PAM No. 4 - this is an abbreviation for aluminum-magnesium powder.
All options are good because they do not have potassium / sodium salts or sulfur, so candles will not give smoke, as well as all kinds of toxins. Result: the lights can be used in the house without fear of poisoning.
Another composition has a radically different formulation. For 6-8 lights, aluminum powder weighing 5 grams is taken, dextrin - 2 grams and sawdust, this time cast iron, which will go from 5 to 6 g. These lights will have to be used only in fresh air.
Obtaining the necessary ingredients
It’s not always possible to buy some of the necessary substances. So before you make a Bengal fire at home, you may have to start preparing the components. The simplest case is with dextrin: it is formed when ordinary starch is heated in the oven. The temperature is set at 195 Celsius, processing is carried out until the initial substance acquires a brownish tint.
If you settled on a recipe with aluminum powder, you will have to do it outdoors. In a mortar, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and sulfur are ground in proportions 30:45:25.
Important: wire
It is worth paying attention to the basis for which you will keep your “fireworks”. There are also a few subtleties here. Firstly, the length: cut the wire into at least 14 cm lengths. This way you will protect your hand from sparks or incandescent material. Secondly, the thickness. Take a wire with a cross section of 2-3 mm. Thinner can burn out and break. Thirdly, the material. Neither copper nor aluminum is suitable - the burning temperature of the mixtures is high, and they simply melt. Look for steel wire. And do not forget, before making a Bengal fire at home, bend one end into a hook so that you can hang it to dry. If the bend bothers you, you can straighten or bite it later.
How to make a sparkler do it yourself: instructions
In addition to all chemicals and rods, you will need a container in which the composition will be prepared. First, aluminum powder or barium salt is poured there, then dextrin, and only after mixing, the remaining components of the selected mixture. When the dry powder is mixed until approximately homogeneous, a little solvent is poured into it (it is possible - water, but better than alcohol). The consistency should resemble boiled condensed milk. A piece of wire is lowered into the composition with 5-7 cm left for the “handle”. The future sparkler is suspended for drying for a quarter of an hour, after which the manipulations are repeated twice more. Three layers will dry for half an hour, and then two more are applied as described already. Final drying will take half a day, and you can set it on fire.
Another way
Often people use a slightly different technology, how to make a sparkler at home. First, a strong paste of starch and tap water is cooked. Then the incendiary mixture is ground, which includes fine-grained iron filings, magnesium powder (aluminum, as an option), table salt and bertoletova. The latter must be handled carefully, and before pouring it, slightly moisten it. The mixture is kneaded in brewed starch until smooth. In the same way, rods are dipped in the same way with time intervals between application of the layers.
Color sparks
For those who are not too lazy to tinker a bit, we can suggest a way to make a sparkler at home, giving an unusual "fountain". To get a greenish tint of flame, sprinkle the finished candle with barium salts (nitrate or monochloride). To prevent them from shedding, sparklers are sprayed with glue-spray. Red sparking will require strontium nitrate powder, which must be well dried before application. And blue lights will burn if treated with copper oxide mixed with copper azure in a ratio of 5: 3.