July 4th Pyrotechnic Effects Official Names (2) Quiz

Answer:

Here are the choices that are terms for American Pyrotechnics Association firework displays:

A "Cake" is a pre-assembled firework made up of a cluster of small tubes, linked by a fuse, creating a longer choreographed aerial effect (colorful star bursts, crackling sparks, whistles, glittering tails) emanating from a single point of ignition. The number of tubes can range from 9 to over 1,000, and range in size from ¼ inch to 4 inches, all wrapped in a box, which can weigh over 100 pounds for professional pyrotechnic shows. Also called a multi-shot or repeater, they are a popular effect for use especially in the finale of big shows.

A "Crossette" has a dramatic aerial burst that creates a crisscrossing grid pattern in the sky. Its shell has several large stars in a self-multiplying burst, with those large stars spawning more smaller stars, that have a crackling sound effect. The pattern can be described as a tic-tac-toe grid, helped by the stars that have grooves or weak points that determine how the larger stars split apart.

A "Dahlia" is also an aerial effect that bursts when it reaches its apex, producing large pyrotechnic stars which are thrown outward in all directions and burn steadily, traveling longer than usual. The appearance is of a large ball with relatively fewer bright stars than other fireworks. Their "bloom" resembles a dahlia flower.

Just as the Italian bowtie pasta is shaped like a butterfly, so is the "Farfalle" firework, the word being Italian for "butterfly." A small tube loaded with propellant, it has a vent hole drilled through it: when the propellant burns, it ejects the hot sparks from both sides of the tube at once, bursting into two concentric rings of bright, spiralling titanium sparks resembling the wings of a butterfly. Inside the wings/circles are colored stars, forming the wing's pattern.

As opposed to exploding at the apex, the "Mine" firework goes off very quickly after launch, near ground level, exploding into a burst of stars and comets, projecting upwards. It often looks like a spray of small bright stars shooting upward. The effect can reach upward from about 50 feet to a few hundred feet. A mine discharges its pyrotechnic effects almost at once from the launch pad, spreading out into a cone while continuing to burn. There is no additional firing out, which distinguishes it from normal aerial shells.

"Pattern shells" are a category of aerial fireworks that explode into a recognizable, pre-defined shapes, such as a heart, smiley face, ring, maple leaf, butterfly, the planet Saturn, and even more. While normal fireworks burst outward into a three-dimensional shape, pattern shells are designed to create more of a two-dimensional designs. They do this with a special arrangement of stars inside the mortar shell - when the shell explodes, the force shoots them outward in a way that gets them to match the design in the shell itself. Interestingly, because there's no guarantee of the shell's orientation when it explodes in the sky, there's no assurance that its image will face the audience in the way intended.

The "Pistil" firework's botanical name (the central part of a flower) is because of its appearance resembling a small central bloom, surrounded by a larger outer flower bloom. Essentially it's a central sphere of stars with an outer sphere of stars around it. From the audience's perspective, it displays as two concentric circles of light. To achieve this effect the shell has two layers of stars, an outer one which is the bigger burst, while the inner layer in the shell has a smaller burst. The fuse is made to ignite the outer stars first, with the inner stars igniting almost immediately afterward.

The "Roman candle" resembles those sold in stores for family displays, but a larger scale version of it is also an aerial pyrotechnic at public shows. Both the large and small roman candles consist of a long tube that fires a series of stars, or other pyrotechnic effects one after another. They get launched like an aerial shell but detonate at a much lower altitude than the normal aerial fireworks. Although the name "roman candle" became established in English by the 17th century, the origin of the name isn't certain. But it does connect the historical association of fireworks with festivals and celebrations in Italy, particularly around Rome.

The "Set Piece" is a ground-based display that uses lances, which are pencil-sized tubes with slow-burning colored flares, arranged on a frame in such a way as to form pictures, or words, or logos or any designs. Typically, their burn lasts for about a minute. They are ignited by a fast-burning fuse called a quickmatch, or stickymatch, located on each of ends of the lances. The set piece firework is used in corporate show events, or private celebrations, and not so much a part of large shows.

The "Strobe" firework effect features colored stars that flash on and off, in a type of strobing effect like you'd see in a dance club. The flashes burn brightly on and then go dark, and then flash again, and the cycle is repeated several times. This creates a star twinkling look in the sky. The pyrotechnic contains a special composition that burns in an oscillating way as the chemical reaction between the fuel, oxidizer and other substances speeds up and slows down.

The "Tourbillion" name comes from the French word for "whirlwind", appropriate enough since the small, rotating device can be fired from candles, mines or shells, spewing out sparks as it rotates and revolves eccentrically. Often described as a "double rocket" the tourbillion's design creates two types of motion at once because its casing has two sets of holes that propel its thrust in different ways: the lateral holes on the sides make the firework spin rapidly around its central axis while holes on the underside thrust it vertically, lifting the spinning device into the air.

The Amerex, Buckeye, BurnBuster, Eclipse, Fireboy, Little Giant, and Minimax, are all brand names of fire extinguishers.