Are Fireworks Chemicals Dangerous? | Newsweek Environment

Typically shallow, poorly researched Newsweek story. They spoke with ... one... chemist at Los Alamos who told them basic chemistry theory. This gets interesting, read on. The Newsweek writer obviously didn't know that a "perchlorate" is something attached to another chemical, for example, Ammonium Perchlorate: NH4ClO4. Ammonia: (N-H4) + Perchlorate (Cl-O4). See that O4? That's 4 oxygen atoms. That means when this stuff burns, it brings a supercharger to the game! This is what the solid rockets on both sides of the Space Shuttle use -- remember how whitehot they burn? Perchlorate oxygen in action! Because the writer didn't know the basics, they didn't ask the question of, "What happens when we burn 2.2 million pounds of this each launch?" (as opposed to some piddly fireworks). The answer turns out to be, "not much", which is why this article is so dumb.
However, the writer fearlessly gets dumber! He talks to an ex-Los Alamos guy (and what's the fixation with Los Alamos?) He talks about "eco-friendly" fireworks, using nitrocellulose ... which is "smokeless powder" for guns ... [WHAT?!?] .. and using a something-nitrate for oxygen. This is even dumber. One of the things the "eco-friendly"[???] nitrates break down into is nitrogen dioxide. Get a whiff of that. You are now d-e-a-d. Or take nitrogen oxide. It turns into nitric acid in your lungs. Hint: that's bad news. The number of ways nirate reactions can hurt or kill you defies quick summary. I invite you to head over to Wikipedia, type in "Nitrate", and read the sections on "Human toxicity" and "Marine Toxicity", or go read Merck's manual: "Nitrate and Nitrite Poisoning: Introduction".

Did I mention that "eco-friendly" nitrate breakdown product, N2O, is an official "greenhouse gas" under Kyoto, its emissions to be lowered? Or that NOx in the air makes acid rain?

Who does your fact checking? This article is a complete dog.

Dee

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Posted By: rws1956 @ 07/03/2009 7:42:23 PM

i've had about enough " green " shoved up my ass!!! goddamn liberals are going to ruin this country. first it was al gore and his happy bullshit about global warming, then it turned into climate change. now lord god obama and his bunch of spinsters are going to carbon tax us into a third world country. ENOUGH, take your green bullshit and shove into YOUR ASS. leave the forth of july alone, you un-patriotic bastards

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Posted By: GusinCA @ 07/03/2009 12:49:10 PM

I wonder how the people living near theme parks with daily fireworks shows feel about this...

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Posted By: syzito @ 07/03/2009 11:52:46 AM

This is enough of the "green" junk science being passed as real facts and empirical evidence.Go soak your hesd in "green" soup.

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Posted By: rschiwal @ 07/03/2009 12:25:14 AM

OF COURSE FIREWORKS ARE DANGEROUS!!!!!! WHO CARES?

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Posted By: deesmith @ 07/02/2009 11:20:15 PM

Typically shallow, poorly researched Newsweek story. They spoke with ... one... chemist at Los Alamos who told them basic chemistry theory. This gets interesting, read on. The Newsweek writer obviously didn't know that a "perchlorate" is something attached to another chemical, for example, Ammonium Perchlorate: NH4ClO4. Ammonia: (N-H4) + Perchlorate (Cl-O4). See that O4? That's 4 oxygen atoms. That means when this stuff burns, it brings a supercharger to the game! This is what the solid rockets on both sides of the Space Shuttle use -- remember how whitehot they burn? Perchlorate oxygen in action! Because the writer didn't know the basics, they didn't ask the question of, "What happens when we burn 2.2 million pounds of this each launch?" (as opposed to some piddly fireworks). The answer turns out to be, "not much", which is why this article is so dumb.
However, the writer fearlessly gets dumber! He talks to an ex-Los Alamos guy (and what's the fixation with Los Alamos?) He talks about "eco-friendly" fireworks, using nitrocellulose ... which is "smokeless powder" for guns ... [WHAT?!?] .. and using a something-nitrate for oxygen. This is even dumber. One of the things the "eco-friendly"[???] nitrates break down into is nitrogen dioxide. Get a whiff of that. You are now d-e-a-d. Or take nitrogen oxide. It turns into nitric acid in your lungs. Hint: that's bad news. The number of ways nirate reactions can hurt or kill you defies quick summary. I invite you to head over to Wikipedia, type in "Nitrate", and read the sections on "Human toxicity" and "Marine Toxicity", or go read Merck's manual: "Nitrate and Nitrite Poisoning: Introduction".

Did I mention that "eco-friendly" nitrate breakdown product, N2O, is an official "greenhouse gas" under Kyoto, its emissions to be lowered? Or that NOx in the air makes acid rain?

Who does your fact checking? This article is a complete dog.

Dee