How Colored Smoke Bombs Are Made

Although we will try to learn more about how colored smoke bombs are made in this article, the consensus of pyrotechnic experts is that it is not safe for hobbyists to try and formulate the powders by themselves at home.

The process of creating the mixes involves considerable danger and some ingredients themselves, specifically potassium chlorate, are highly combustible and should not be stored casually in the home. Hobbyists are better off purchasing colored smoke bomb kits from pyrotechnic stores.

An exception will be if they limit themselves to the use of potassium nitrate which is for a great part, inert. It also burns slowly and does not exude toxic by-products.

Preparing the safe smoke bomb

You will need an amount of saltpeter, which is another name for potassium nitrate (KNO3). This is a white crystalline substance which reacts with appropriate quantities of sugar in the presence of heat to produce a slow combustion process with little flame and plenty of smoke. 

Then you will need table sugar or sucrose. To produce more smoke, you might want to use brown sugar.

Although it is possible to detonate a smoke bomb when the components are in powder form, the powder mixture will have to be mixed well. In the process of mixing the powder, the danger of causing heat induced by friction is present. This may just ignite the mixture before the bomb has been prepared.

To avoid the dangers of refining the combined components of the bomb, some people prefer to grind and refine the ingredients separately. When they have a fine enough consistency, they are mixed with water to form a paste-like substance. The water added to the mixture has to be carefully applied to maintain the texture similar to yoghurt.

The paste is then formed into lumps and made to dry for about a day in a well secured,  cool and dry room. When the bomb mass becomes clayish it is ready to be used.

Adding color and stabilizer to the bomb

Very often a pinch of sodium bicarbonate is added into the solution. This is to slow down the oxidation process and give time for the smoke to be emitted from the bomb before it burns itself up.

To produce colored smoke, some organic dyes may be placed into the mix. The best dyes to use are blue and yellow or any combination of the two. The bicarbonate and the dyes are added to the mix just as it begins to feel like paste.

The colored smoke bomb kits

Those who have never seen smoke bombs in their lives let alone made one, should not try to DIY them. For starters, and to get to see how the ingredients look and perform, they should purchase a bomb kit. As usual, the usual research and inquiry will have to be done to make sure they are purchasing a good kit.

They are usually going at around $50. Although that seems a lot of money to pay for a smoking firework, you will avoid all the hazards of preparing the bomb yourself.

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Jameson Daniels is a writer for skylighter.com check out his smoke bomb or his potassium chlorate.