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Salt Lake Community College
Black Snake Fireworks
Signature Assignment
Jasmine Shaw
Chemistry 1010-404
Professor Roylance
31 July 2016
Black Snake Fireworks
Fireworks are a summer tradition throughout the world. From Independence Day in the
United States to National Day in Singapore to the Sumida River Fireworks Festival in Japan,
fireworks are a brilliant way to celebrate these holidays. Big firework displays are bright and
beautiful but growing up, I was always more fascinated by the small and simple fireworks known
as magic black snakes. Black snake fireworks are small, circular tablets that are set on the ground
and ignited with a flame usually from a punk or lighter. These little burning tablets begin
growing long columns of black or colored ash, apparently out of nowhere. Even though they
aren’t bright nor do they explode in the sky, I was once convinced they really were “magic”
when I was young. However, as I got older I realized it was actually due to chemical reactions.
This paper will help to explain the chemistry behind these black snake fireworks. I will be using
both store-bought as well as homemade snakes for this report.
How snake fireworks work:
Black snake fireworks work by an endothermic chemical reaction known as an
intumescent reaction. An intumescent substance “melts and, at a temperature corresponding to
the proper viscosity, an endothermic reaction takes place [and] generates gases which diffuse
into small bubbles (of typical diameter 10-60 microns) resulting in the formation of a foam [that]
solidifies through cross-linking into a thick multicellular char which has a low thermal
conductivity” (Lehane & Leydon). This intumescent reaction is what causes black snake pellets
to melt and then swell to create the famous snake-like ash pillars.
What snake fireworks are composed of:
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Black Snake Fireworks
There are two major forms of commercial snake fireworks: mercury based and non-
mercury based. Mercury based ones makes orange or yellow snakes, while non-mercury makes
the black or gray snakes. However, since mercury is toxic, most store-bought snake fireworks are
usually composed of varying mixtures including “soda with nitronaphthalene, linseed oil,
ammonium nitrate, naptha pitch, fuming nitric acid, picric acid, gum arabic water, and stearin”
(Helmenstine). For this report’s demonstration, I will be using a package containing five pellets
of the non-mercury based black magic snake fireworks.
Next, I will be using a homemade black snake mixture. To make the homemade version
of snake fireworks, I used a recipe I found online. I mixed together 4 tsp (20 g) of powdered
sugar with 1 tsp (5 g) baking soda, which is also known as sodium bicarbonate (Alfonso). For the
experiment, I will pour a little fuel on the ground, pour the mixture on top of that, and then ignite
it with a Bic disposable butane lighter.
Experiments:
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Black Snake Fireworks
The first snake fireworks I burned were the store-bought ones. I simply kept the five
pellets inside the 6 cm long paper wrapper and lit them with the Bic lighter. Next, the paper
burned away, the firework began smoking, the snake pellets melted together, and then began
expanding. After about 2 minutes of burning, the flames went out to leave a pile of the famous
black ash columns. From the five 5 mm thick pellets, they expanded about 20 times to make a
snake column that was about 5 cm in diameter and 100 cm in estimated length.
Next, I burned my homemade carbon and sugar snake mixture. First, I poured lighter
fluid on the ground and then I placed the mixture that was about 5 cm in diameter and 2 cm high.
I lit the mixture with the Bic lighter and the flame heat was estimated to be about “77 degrees
Fahrenheit” or 25° C or 298 K (Libal). Just like the commercial snake, the mixture ignited, began
smoking, and expanding. However, perhaps because it was composed of different chemicals and
it was in a different shape when it was lit (a mound instead of cylindrical), the end result looked
much different. Instead of it looking like a long, snake-like pillar, it looked more like just a
shapeless mass of black ash. Regardless of the shape, it was still an intumescent reaction and did
just what commercial store-bought black snakes do.
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Black Snake Fireworks
Chemical Formula:
2 Na H C O3 → Na2 C O3 + H2 O + C O2
C12 H22 O11 + 12 O2 → 12 CO2 + 11 H2O
The combustion of the homemade sugar (C12H22O11) and baking soda ( NaHCO3)
snake mixture creates an endothermic reaction. The baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, breaks
down to sodium carbonate ash [Na2CO3 (s)], water vapor [H2O (g)], and carbon dioxide [CO2
(g)]. Then the burning of sugar in oxygen (O2) produces water vapor [H2O (g)] and carbon
dioxide gas [CO2 (g)]. The carbon dioxide gas from the combusted baking soda creates pressure
and pushes the sodium carbonate from the burning sugar, producing the "black snakes”
(Helmenstine).
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Black Snake Fireworks
Bibliography
Alfonso, Pablo. “Make Black Snake Fireworks With & Without Fire”. Science Experiments
How-To’s. Wonder How To, 2014. Web. 25 Jul 2016.
Helmenstine, Anne Marie. “How To Make Black Snakes or Glow Worms”. About Education.
About.com, 07 May 2016. Web. 26 Jul 2016.
Lehane, Patricia and Leydon, Connie. “The Process of Intumescence”. Performance of
Intumescent Fire Protection Coatings in Non-Standard Heating Scenarios. Playing With
Fire, 2010. Web. 26 Jul 2016.
Libal, Angela. “What Temperatures Do Lighters Burn At?” eHow Discover. eHow.com, 2016.
Web. 26 Jul 2016.
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Black Snake Fireworks
Reflection
Even though I know that “magical” black snakes aren’t really magic, being able to
explain the chemistry behind these black snake fireworks is even more exciting. After taking this
chemistry class, I am able to use and comprehend chemistry vocabulary such as describing an
endothermic chemical reaction, balance chemical formulas, and explain the chemical
composition of different substances concisely. It’s amazing to me that chemistry can explain
basically how everything is created, maintained, and changed throughout the universe which is
obviously why it is considered “the central science”.
Since attending this class, I am able to demonstrate what I’ve learned by showcasing my
technical writing skills through an objective and informative science report. I am also able to
display quantitative and analytical skills by using the scientific method to formulate a hypothesis,
such wondering how snake fireworks work, perform an experiment, and come up with an
explanation through chemical equations.
After performing the experiments, I was then able to research scientific topics. With such
research, I am capable of giving some background information about the subject of black snake
fireworks. In the end, it was an enjoyable experience of being able to utilize what I’ve learned in
class and have some fun with it by making my own carbon and sugar snakes!
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