Fourth of July Tribute (and fun science firework stuff!)

Happy 4th of July All!!



What Makes Them Go Boom? Our Favorite Explainers on the Science of Fireworks
By Sophie Bushwick | Jun 30, 2011

Behind the pretty image, however, fireworks rely on basic physical and chemical principles. So just how do fireworks work? Various corners of the internet, including this website, have tackled the topic before.

In 2003, Scientific American published "What are the physical and chemical changes that occur in fireworks?" , an Ask the Experts feature by University of Missouri at Rolla professor Paul Nicholas Worsey. For example, to create a five-pointed star, the pellets are arranged in a star pattern within the shell.

Prefer a visual guide? PBS's NOVA has the page Anatomy of a Firework, where depictions of aerial shells' innards accompany discussions of their composition, in addition to NOVA's listing of other fireworks resources available both on and offline.

But blowing up chemicals has an environmentally negative side-effect, as Scientific American online reporter Katharine Harmon discussed in a 2009 blog post, "Bombs bursting in air: "What's in those Fourth of July fireworks, anyway?"

How Stuff Works

Science is fun! Website of Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, a University of Wisconsin - Madison professor of chemistry. Fireworks page

And, in case you missed this post in the Science Odds and Ends thread: Fireworks exploding in a mayonnaise jar and captured at 2,000 frames/sec - need I say more?!

Fireworks + Explodables + Ultra-High Speed Phantom HD Camera = The Best Fourth of July Video
By Paul Adams Posted 06.30.2011

So what better way to celebrate our nation's independence than aiming a Phantom v641 from New Jersey's Vision Research at all manner of explosives, resulting in high-definition footage of fireworks going off at a glorious 2,000 frames per second?

Not so much the celestial dazzling burst kind of fireworks -- you'll get plenty of those this weekend regardless -- but a serious investigation of what exactly happens when you stick firecrackers in, for instance, a jar of mayonnaise.

See link for video - it's cool!

[youtube:2v4lr1wa][/youtube:2v4lr1wa]

http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. ~John F. Kennedy

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. ~Louis D. Brandeis

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~Hamilton Fish

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, "Maxims: Liberty and Equality," 1905

How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy. ~Paul Sweeney

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. ~Moshe Dayan

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~William J. Clinton

and more... http://www.quotegarden.com/fourth-of-july.html