Tag: fireworks

fireworks show gone wrong — two levels of epic fails

July 4th is a day we celebrate America’s independence with grilled food and fireworks. Many people go to community events to watch organized fireworks shows, which is usually a good time. But it’s also fun to shoot your own fireworks. It’s also quite dangerous. It’s easy to take it for granted that no one will get injured, yet kids get to play with little bombs.

A basic safety rule of fireworks is to not have the fireworks-for-later pile near the fireworks-in-use pile. This should be obvious. But obviously it’s not. LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING! (Referencing Fire Marshall Bill here, from the TV show In Living Color. He didn’t make this video, but this is about how it would’ve turned out if he had been there.) Watch this:

That’s an epic fail at a front-yard level — way more epic than anyone should experience. But what if a whole warehouse of fireworks caught fire? It happened just a few days ago in California. This video is a LOT of fireworks going BOOM.

fireworks show gone wrong

Didn’t get to shoot any fireworks this year because of the state-wide burn ban.  So watched some on TV, which just isn’t the same. What I saw was good, but do you ever wonder how it looks when a big fireworks show has problems?

Here’s a video of a fireworks show in Thailand.  What’s special about this video is that the big, high-dollar fireworks are launched closer to the ground than normal, which is exciting, scary, and dangerous.  The crowd seems to enjoy it at first, but then when one of them gets detonated while still on the ground, it’s pretty cool to see.  Wouldn’t want to be there, though.

Here’s one more July 4th video.  It’s kinda random…

 

caption contest, guys standing by exploding fireworks

Here’s our next caption contest, since it’s Monday.   This week’s photo features a couple of guys standing in the midst of firecrackers exploding.  Or so it seems.  The actual story could be anything, because you get to make it up.  So write a funny caption explaining what’s going on.  If nothing comes to mind immediately, let your mind wander for a few minutes while staring at the picture.  And remember, you get to invent the story, so it can be almost anything you want.

guys standing in smoke of firecrackers

(To see our other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

How do fireworks work?

Have you ever wondered how certain fireworks can make awesome displays of color and explosion?  There’s actually quite a bit of science behind it.  Basically, the fireworks designers have to figure out how to slow down the chemical reaction and explosion to make them look better.  And the light comes from them cooling down.  I won’t bore you with the technical details.  You can visit this site to get a more detailed explanation.

I’ve dreamed of a job designing fireworks, and I still think it would be fun, but I’d rather learn by trial and experiment rather than all the scientific formulations and stuff…  🙂

fireworks