when I was in college we had to throw certain chemicals into the burner to get some nice pretty colors. has anyone done this and is there a list somewhere of what chemical makes what color?
Magnesium is fun, but not quite what your looking for (produces a bright white colour due to the flame tempurature.) Pyrotechnics are interested in this question however, so looking at how various fireworks (not limited to fireworks though,) get thier oranges, greens, blues, and reds, can help. Chemicaly, you are looking for reactions which cause the electrons to change in such away as to emit the desired colour (because as they move from one energy level to another, they release a certain wavelength of light.) Sodium, chromium, and strontium are some I can recall being used, but since I can't remember the forumlas, I'l look up something... And, here's almost a full introductory tutorial on pytotechnic colours: http://cc.oulu.fi/~kempmp/colours.html and it has a table of commonly used chemicals. You can search google for exact recipies. Keep in mind however, some recipies may contain mixtures that are meant to explode (as opposed to burn.) Hence, don't put anything but the smallest quantities over that bunsen burner untill you know what it will do Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! -Andrew
A list here: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/CHEMWEEK/fireworks/fireworks.htm I don't know how complete it is though.. Edit: here's a better one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_test
