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Lycopodium powder is a yellow-tan dust-like powder historically used as a flash powder. [1] Today, the principal use of the powder is to create flashes or flames that are large and impressive but relatively easy to manage safely in magic acts and for cinema and theatrical special effects .
Contrary to urban legend, an M-80 that contains 3,000 mg of powder is not equivalent to a quarter-stick of dynamite. Dynamite generally contains a stable nitroglycerin-based high explosive, whereas M-80s or any other kind of firecracker contain a low explosive powder, like flash powder or black powder. [10]
The same flash powder used for military tactical pyrotechnics can also be used for several theatrical special effects. [11] They are used to produce loud, bright flashes of light for effect. Though some flash powders are too volatile and dangerous to be safely used, there are milder compounds that are still incorporated into performances today.
The electric flash-lamp was invented by Joshua Cohen (a.k.a. Joshua Lionel Cohen of the Lionel toy train fame) in 1899, and by Paul Boyer in France. [1] It was granted U.S. patent number 636,492. [2] This flash of bright light from the flash-lamp was used for indoor photography in the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth ...
In pyrotechnics a salute is a device primarily designed to make a loud report (bang), rather than have a visual effect, although most salutes also have a bright flash. They most commonly consist of a 70:30 mixture of potassium perchlorate and dark aluminium powder and may have titanium added for a cloud of sparks (titanium salute). [1]
A flash powder composition may specify multiple different fuels. Some fuels can also serve as binders. Common fuels include: Metals. Aluminium – most common fuel in many classes of mixtures, also a combustion instability suppressant. Less energy per mass than carbon but less gas evolution, retaining heat in the reaction mixture.
Flash compositions used in firecrackers usually consist of a mixture of aluminium powder and potassium perchlorate. This mixture, sometimes called flash powder, is also used in ground and air fireworks. As an oxidizer, potassium perchlorate can be used safely in the presence of sulfur, whereas potassium chlorate cannot.
These salutes typically carry 25 grams of flash powder but in rare occasions have been measured and can contain upward to 30 grams. Like the others, a piece of visco fuse 2 to 4 inches is protruding from the side or end.