The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

58 PYROTECHNICS
little brilliant scales. The paperers sell it under the name of gold
powder. It is very common in Paris." 7
Some of Audot's compositions are as follows:
Common fire: meal powder 16 parts, coarse and fine charcoal
5 parts.
Chinese fire: meal powder 16 parts, cast iron 6 parts.
Brilliant fire: meal powder 16 parts, steel filings 4 parts.
Blue fire for cascades: meal powder 16 parts, saltpeter 8,
sulfur 12, and zinc filings 12 parts.
Fixed star: saltpeter 16 parts, sulfur 4, meal powder 4,
and antimony (sulfide) 2 parts.
Silver rain for a turning sun or fire wheel: meal powder
16 parts, saltpeter 1, sulfur 1, steel filings 5 parts.
Green fire for the same: meal powder 16 parts, copper filings
3 parts.
Chinese fire for the same: meal powder 16 parts, saltpeter
8, fine charcoal 3, sulfur 3, fine and coarse cast iron 10 parts.
Composition for lances. Yellow: saltpeter 16 parts', meal
powder 16, sulfur 4, amber 4, and colophony 3 parts. Hose:
saltpeter 16 parts, lampblack 1, meal powder 3. White: saltpeter
16 parts, sulfur 8, meal powder 4. Blue: saltpeter 16
parts, antimony (sulfide) 8, very fine zinc filings 4. Green:
saltpeter 16 parts, sulfur 6, verdigris 16, and antimony (sulfide)
6 parts.
Bengal flame: saltpeter 16 parts, sulfur 4, and antimony
(sulfide) 2 parts. This mixture was to be lighted by quickmatch
and burned in small earthenware pots for general
illumination. 8
The Ruggieri, father and son, contributed greatly to the development
of fireworks by introducing new, and often very elaborate,
pieces for public display and by introducing new materials
into the compositions. They appear to have been among the first
who attempted to modify the colors of flames by the addition of
salts. The compositions which we have cited from Audot are
similar to some of those which the elder Ruggieri undoubtedly
used at an earlier time, and the younger Ruggieri, earlier than
Andot's book, was using materials which Audot does not mention,
in particular, copper sulfate and ammonium chloride for the
green fire of the palm-tree set piece. The use of ammonium
chloride was a definite advance, for the chloride helps to volatilize
the copper and to produce a brighter color. But ammonium
7 Audot, op. cit., pp. 15-19.
8 Audot, op. cit., pp. 48, 49, 50, 52, 63, 64, 67.