Colored Flames Research Paper

Colored fire is a common pyrotechnic effect used in movies, fireworks and by fire performers all over the world. Generally the color of the flame may be red, orange, yellow, or white, and is controlled by blackbody radiation from soot and steam. When additional chemicals are added to the fire, the flame would appear a different color according to the other chemicals. Flame coloring is also a good way to show how chemicals change when heated and how they change the matter around them.
To make colored flames pyrotechnicians will normally use metal salts. Sometimes specific fuels are needed to create flames in a certain color at the size needed. Additional elements are sometimes added, one of these elements is polyvinyl chloride. One use for colored fire is the flame test, where a metal tube called a spectroscope is used to burn chemicals and produces a colored flame that is used to find the properties of the chemical.
Colored flames have become popular while camping. Boy scouts and other groups have placed sections of copper pipes with holes drilled around it and then chemicals are put into the tube to create a variety of flame colors. Products such as flame coloring sticks have been made to make this process a lot easier.

To produce a powder or solid that when lit will produce a colored fire the steps are a lot more complicated. To get a powder to burn alone both a fuel and oxidizer are needed. The most common oxidizers are Ammonium per chlorate, sodium nitrate, guanine nitrate, potassium chlorate, ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate, potassium per chlorate, and strontium nitrate. Many of these oxidizers produce a colored flame by themselves. Some of them are severely toxic and environmentally