Sparkler

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Sparklers are popular fireworks for children.

Moving sparklers quickly can create attractive patterns.

Sparklers burn at up to 2000° F (1100° C) Photograph by Gabriel Pollard.

A sparkler is a type of hand-held firework that burns slowly while emitting colored flames, sparks, and many effects.

The "classic" type of sparkler consists of a thin metal rod approximately one foot long that has been dipped in a thick batter of pyrotechnic composition and allowed to dry. This composition is rich in a metallic fuel such as aluminium or iron, which when burned creates silver or gold sparks, respectively. The fuel typically contains potassium nitrate or sometimes potassium chlorate as an oxidizer, sometimes with sulfur and carbon. Colored flame can be achieved by addition of nitrates or chlorides of barium (light green), copper (blue/green), or strontium (red).

A more modern type of sparkler, known as the "Morning Glory", consists of a long, thin paper tube filled with composition and attached to a wooden rod using brightly-colored tissue paper and ribbon. Several different compositions can be packed into a single tube, resulting in a sparkler that changes color. However, some people take the tubes, break them in half, and spill the powder out in a container, such as a butter container, and throw a match in. These "sparkler bombs", while not bombs, do emit an incredibly bright and high flame, albeit briefly (about 1 second). Sparkler bombs have also been made using classic sparklers by binding many together and lighting them, or crushing the solid pyrotechnic compsition into a fine powder which is used in much the same way as the 'Morning Glory' powder. The effect produced by these is similar to those made using "Morning Glory" sparklers.

In the United Kingdom, a sparkler is often used by children at bonfire and fireworks displays on the 5th November, the Guy Fawkes Night - as this is significant to the day.

[edit] Safety issues

Sparklers, while seemingly innocuous, are responsible for the vast majority of legal firework-related injuries, mainly as a result of parents giving sparklers to young children. The devices burn at a high temperature (up to 1800 to 3000° F, or 1000 to 1600° C), depending on the fuel and oxidizer used. This can cause devastating burns to hands and faces or ignite clothing. Sparklers should only be used under careful adult supervision. Also gloves should be worn while the sparkler is alight. Sparklers containing aluminum or iron powder fuel, which burn hotter, can be used as an ignition for thermite. Sometimes railway workers who weld rails with thermite, just throw a sparkler into the reaction vessel.

Sparklers (as with all fireworks) present a fire-hazard and this is especially true in drier areas. In Australia, for instance, sparkler-related bushfire accidents have led to their banning at public outdoor events during summer like Australia Day celebrations.

[edit] Sparklers in art and pop culture

Free Bariumnitrate (Art group monochrom ignited 10.000 bound sparklers as a "symbolic liberation", because "sparklers are bound to various monotheistic rituals" and stand as representatives "of all symbols that have been enslaved and abused by the monotheistic world religions."