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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