24 replies to this topic

[GZ22]

People will be curious, yes, but you have to be careful not to give out too much detail. A good example is a descripition of flash I once heard: "It is made from two products. One, a finely ground metallic powder, and a finely ground oxidizing agent" As he describes each component, he picks up a large plastic bag of it so people can see it. Not going into detail like that is good. Imagine telling someone that Barium compunds produce the colour green. They may then go away and obtain some and not bother researching it's physical properties and/or associated risks, and poison themselves. I think it would be much better to not say what the constituent components are. Using generic terms is better in my opinion. The same person also describes BP like this: "It's a mixture of three powdery ingredients, known to most competent schoolboys".

[pyrotechnist]

People will be curious, yes, but you have to be careful not to give out too much detail. A good example is a descripition of flash I once heard: "It is made from two products. One, a finely ground metallic powder, and a finely ground oxidizing agent" As he describes each component, he picks up a large plastic bag of it so people can see it. Not going into detail like that is good. Imagine telling someone that Barium compunds produce the colour green. They may then go away and obtain some and not bother researching it's physical properties and/or associated risks, and poison themselves. I think it would be much better to not say what the constituent components are. Using generic terms is better in my opinion. The same person also describes BP like this: "It's a mixture of three powdery ingredients, known to most competent schoolboys".

There was a program on Discovery a while ago which said what compounds produced each colour. I do not think just saying Barium to someone is going to trigger them into buying the correct barium compounds but who on this earth can find just Barium anyway? they must be good if they get hold of it. I know you should not be to specific but you do need to give some detail away. For example how on earth will one explain the colour system of fireworks if they cannot mention the chemicals that do it?

[phildunford]

I would personally say people are getting a bit too worried about this.

There is nothing we could say on our stand that is not freely available to the whole world on the internet.

At least we can promote being responsible.

[David]

What sort of events are you thinking of having a stall at? The sort of crowd may differ depending on the event, but I think in all cases the vast majority won't be "enthusiasts." So be aware that people might as some questions that seem pretty daft.

[GZ22]

Fair enough. Just that I was thinking of protecting the society from a legal standpoint. In today's highly litigious world, too many people are all too willing to be ready to sue their neighbour and his dog if they think they'll get compensation out of it. You could quite easily refer to 'salts of Strontium' for example when explaining how reds are produced, without naming the exact material. A possible good angle to increase membership would be to say that if you really want in-depth information, join the UKPS and participate in our forum discussions.

Edited by GZ22, 23 August 2008 - 06:38 PM.

[Arthur Brown]

Possibly a good plan to look at the "Kaboom" video and see how they describe various aspects to see what they found to be a reasonable level of information. You can find the Los Alamos files on-line which may be irresponsible but all the info is there. Whether the Society should be promoting formulary knowledge without wisdom is a matter for the society to decide. Still some drawings with coloured discs for stars wouldn't pass too much info out into the wild. Some of it is wild out there, look on youtube for things to do with flash powder!

[starseeker]

I completely agree Arthur, but one thing you have to think of is that if you have sectioned shells, showing stars, burst/lift charge etc, people will want to know what they are and what they do. Also people will probably want to know how certain effects are created, such as colors, glitters etc, and I see now harm in telling them. I'm not saying that you give them a formula, but rather what go's into a formula and it's function.

The area you have to be careful though, is if someone ask's you 'How do they make the really loud bangs' then what? You can tell them the 2 chems but not the quantities. That person then could go research and experiment, and maybe have a accident, or do you just tell the person 'I can't tell you for your, and other people's safety'. It's situations like this where we have to be careful.

I thought the idea of all this was to get people interested,when they show interest,they can be told to join the UKPS and follow on from there.
All the information that people are afraid of sharing is on this forum

[GZ22]

All the information that people are afraid of sharing is on this forum

That's exactly my idea. If people want to know more in depth stuff, they can find out here. That way, no one is giving out face-to-face 'how-to' information. Should be good for increasing membership

[Richard H]

I think Portfire is spot on.

[wjames]

yip, spot on.....not giving out specifics is very sensible....

but to be fair.......there is a HUGE amount of instruction on youtube...some good, some very bad.