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Pyrotechnically Speaking Everyone loves fireworks, but it's safe to say that few love them as much as does Dr. John Conkling. An adjunct professor of chemistry at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and a past executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, Conkling has made fireworks his life. With eight patents in energetics under his belt, he has mixed and matched chemicals in both military and civilian applications for over three decades. As he makes clear in this interview, even after all these years his enthusiasm remains as bursting as a 12-inch peony shell. NOVA: You've been in this field for three decades. How have fireworks changed over that time? Conkling: The colors have definitely gotten brighter; new chemical mixtures have brightened shows considerably. Also, we shoot shows much faster today than we did 30 years ago. A fireworks display back then may have lasted an hour; today, if it lasts 20 minutes it's a long fireworks show. The public has come to want all its entertainment fast and furious, and the industry has had to keep up with it. Unlike in the old days, today fireworks are set off electronically in rapid-fire, computer-controlled, highly choreographed productions. NOVA: So what's the next big thing in fireworks? Conkling: Well, even better choreography -- the ability to time fireworks with music so you can match notes of music with fireworks effects. Electronic firing has let us do this, as has better quality control in the fusing of the fireworks themselves. Again, this goes along with the public's demand for really precise, spectacular entertainment. The old way of maybe playing a musical selection and shooting some fireworks doesn't cut it anymore. When the "Star-Spangled Banner" is playing and you hear "rockets red glare," at that precise moment the public likes to see the sky explode in red. You do it five seconds before or five seconds after and they wonder "What was that for?" So you really have to match well, and we're getting really good at that. Would-be wordsmiths: Pyrotechnicians count among current pressing challenges the ability to spell words in the sky. NOVA: What about spelling out letters in the sky? Conkling: The pattern shell is another recent area of innovation -- the ability to have aerial fireworks burst and form a perfect heart or a five-pointed star or a smiling happy face. The next logical progression of that will be the ability to create a letter with aerial shell bursts -- the pellets come out in the shape of a letter. Obviously, if you can make one letter, there's the potential to string a few letters together and spell out "NOVA" or some other word. We're not there yet. We're still a ways from it, but there's interest in being able to do that. NOVA: How about fireworks used indoors, so-called "cold" fireworks? Conkling: In recent years there has indeed been an increased use of entertainment pyrotechnics, that is, the indoor application of pyrotechnics. They can't produce the smoke that a lot of outdoor fireworks produce, and they can't be as hot. But pyrotechnic mixtures that are considerably lower in temperature are of great interest, and there's been some real progress. Some people call them "cold" fireworks, but they're still pretty warm. Fireworks makers are moving behind the standard color palette and into the realm of the specialty hue. NOVA: Does the chemistry become increasingly complex as you come up with new colors? Conkling: Color mixing is advancing. We can usually make a pretty deep red, a nice green, a reasonable blue. Now, if you start to combine the red and the blue, you get violet, lilac, purple. There's interest in being able to make lime-green, a beautiful orange, and so on. That takes a real careful mixing of color technology. We keep getting better and better. As research continues, we're still making advancements. NOVA: What new colors should we expect down the pike? Chartreuse? Aquamarine? Hot pink? Conkling: I think the whole palette! I see no reason why there should be much limitation on the colors we see. It's just a question of R&D effort as well as demand. It's usually driven from the entertainment side. A theme park may want a very specific effect for a show they're doing, and they'll say "Give me lime-green." Once a company starts to develop a lime-green, they start thinking, well, we have this new color, let's find some other customers who would like to have it as well. NOVA: I've heard that some of the greatest innovations in fireworks are made by amateurs. Is that true? Conkling: Absolutely. There is a several-thousand-member group called the Pyrotechnic Guild. They are private citizens who love fireworks; they love setting them off. A number of them have small laboratories in their basements or sheds, where they do a little experimentation. They have the interest, time, and patience to do test after test after test, trying to create the perfect color, the perfect spark. So they are not a group to be dismissed lightly. They have as members some highly intelligent people with a strong interest in enhancing the science and the art of fireworks. All in a day's work: Pyro Boy, aka the Seattle-based performance artist Wally Glenn, truly sparkles on stage. NOVA: Speaking of amateurs, what do you think of Pyro Boy? He's the guy who loads himself up with fireworks and dances on stage as the fireworks go off. Conkling: Well, he is flirting on the edge with that act. He's totally relying on the manufacturer of the devices to have an extremely high degree of quality control. I certainly hope he wears protective armor, because if one of those devices were to malfunction, he certainly has the potential to injure himself. NOVA: Is your work dangerous? Ever had any serious injuries from working with these chemicals? Conkling: No, I tend to be very careful. I work with very limited quantities of material, certainly until I am well aware of all a new material's properties -- its sensitivity, its output. People have to be extremely cautious if they're working or even dabbling in this field, as there is the potential for injury. You should know your science well before you ever attempt to do any of this at home. With danger in the air, pyrotechnicians are extremely cautious while assembling fireworks. NOVA: What are your greatest concerns in terms of firework safety? Conkling: Well, safety begins with manufacturing. Manufacturers are very cautious to avoid any type of ignition source when they're mixing powder together, when they're assembling fireworks. They have large amounts of powder, so there is always a potential for a serious accident to occur. Training and good safety practices are important. When using fireworks at the consumer level, one should follow the label directions very carefully and have a sober adult in charge. At the big public displays, the biggest concern for the public is giving the professionals room. The safety zones they set up are there for a reason. Stay back a safe distance and enjoy the show. NOVA: Today, there are some states where you can't buy fireworks but you can buy firearms. Should fireworks be legal in every state? Conkling: We now have very strict federal regulations for consumer fireworks. All 50 states currently allow the licensed public display to take place. There are now, I believe, 41 states that do permit the public to use something, ranging from the wire sparklers in novelties up to a reasonable assortment of consumer fireworks. All those have to meet federal safety standards of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I believe that devices that meet those federal standards, used in an appropriate place by a reasonably competent person -- again, the sober adult comes into play -- can be used safely and enjoyably. It's not necessary to prohibit them. Two words should define the user of consumer fireworks, says Conkling: "sober adult." It's important to allow devices appropriate for the area, however. In a populated area, you may not want the aerial rockets, for example. But fountains that stay on the ground and spray sparks can certainly be used very safely in those areas. NOVA: You now serve on an international fireworks body, right? Conkling: Yes. There's currently an effort to harmonize the international standards for fireworks, both their classification and performance, and I've been asked to participate. We've been working to try to make it much easier to exchange fireworks between countries, so everybody's working with the same set of requirements. NOVA: How did you first become interested in fireworks? Conkling: As a youngster I was fascinated by them, but it was more through the chemistry. When I started my college teaching, I began doing research with pyrotechnic materials and found it to be an absolutely fascinating area of chemistry, with a lot of questions that were not fully answered at the time. It's a beautiful field to do experiments in. When you get your red flame or blue flame, it's very positive feedback that makes a lot of other areas in chemistry pale in comparison. "If it's a nice, deep, vivid blue," says Conkling, "I sort of take my hat off and say, 'Well, those people knew what they were doing.'" NOVA: Have you invented fireworks yourself? Conkling: I've developed various compositions in both the fireworks field and other areas of pyrotechnics, including military applications and other civilian areas, such as emergency signals, particularly delay compositions or time-delays. NOVA: What's your favorite kind of firework? Conkling: I love a really good blue shell. To a chemist, the blue color is the hardest to achieve. When I go to a fireworks show, I always keep an eye out for the quality of their blue. If it's a nice, deep, vivid blue, I sort of take my hat off and say, "Well, those people knew what they were doing." NOVA: What's the most dazzling display you've ever seen? Conkling: When the American Pyrotechnics Association had its 50th anniversary in 1998 at Disney World in Florida, the "best of the best" in the industry put on a salute that was fired from multiple sites. It was absolutely spectacular. I give that the highest rating of any show I've ever seen. Firework shells typically run up to about 12 inches in diameter, but shells over three times as big have had their day in the sun. NOVA: And what's the largest firework anyone has ever set off? Conkling: In practice, shells tend to run up to about 12 inches in diameter. The U.S. uses a few every year that are 24 inches in diameter, and 36-inch shells have been made. The biggest that people have tried to make were in the 40-inch-plus range. In the mid-1970s the author George Plimpton launched an effort get monster shells called Fat Man I and Fat Man II to explode. The first one went off at ground level and was deemed a failure. The other got up a few hundred feet and burst, and was apparently quite spectacular. But I'd say 24 is about as big as anyone can go and have any hope of a successful shell. NOVA: How big across is the resulting burst of a 24-inch shell? Conkling: Probably 1,000 feet. There's a tremendous spread to the "stars" [the cube- or pellet-shaped chemical constituents of fireworks -- see Anatomy of a Firework]. NOVA: Different cultures have different styles of fireworks displays, is that right? Conkling: Yes. Many of the European countries love noise. There, colors are for the women and the kids, but the real fireworks effect is the concussion. In the United States, I think we're much more into beautiful color displays. The Japanese are into symmetry. They judge the quality of a firework by the perfect symmetry of the burst. There cannot be the slightest imperfection in the symmetrical pattern. They have international competitions in which companies compete, and it's a matter of great pride to be judged the top fireworks manufacturer. Pyrotechnicians in American display shows typically prefer a cosmopolitan range of firework varieties. NOVA: Do these different styles drive the type of manufacturers that are working in different countries? Conkling: Yes. Now, since the U.S. has traditionally been the melting pot of the world, we tend to take the technologies from all of these countries. A fireworks display today is really an international event. You'll see Chinese fireworks, Japanese fireworks, maybe some Australian fireworks, Brazilian fireworks, French fireworks, and Spanish fireworks as well as U.S.-manufactured product. We do much more internationalization in our fireworks shows today than most other countries. NOVA: I've heard Japan does daytime displays. How does that work? Conkling: Many of the daytime fireworks are smoke effects. When the firework bursts, a smoke cloud is produced. You can create various colors and visual patterns through the use of the smoke rather than through a burning light effect. NOVA: In closing, why do you think people love fireworks so much? Conkling: Well, obviously people like the glorious
entertainment -- the bright lights and vivid colors and loud noises. But there is
something in the human spirit that is somewhat in awe when these fireworks explode,
something that gets to some of our basic instincts. It's more than the pretty colors or
pretty lights. It goes right back to man's fascination with fire. |
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