Barium Nitrate Burn Tests

The purpose - a green flame. Now very early tests gave quit a yellow flame. Hell if I can remember what was in that. It was quite a long time ago. Now, resumed testing was started off with a barium nitrate and sugar mix. This would not burn, even with nudging from black powder and chlorate/sugar. That was kind of expected though as barium nitrate is not meant as a sole oxidizer in a mix.

The newest test involved the barium nitrate + sugar mix with potassium chlorate added in. This first burned slowly with a slighly green flame. More potassium chlorate was added and some more barium nitrate. This burned faster with a bit more green. The fountain test was next.

The mix was placed in a film canister, fused, and the lid taped shut. Standard of what the other fountains were composed of. The fuse burned down and the mix was ignited. At first, there was a very small but sharp greenish/yellowish flame burning. It then proceeded to flare up into bigger and thicker flame. The colour remained green/yellow. It was still small though (in height) in comparison to the others, maybe about 2-3 feet high.

It was ok though, giving off the greenest colour I've gotten from barium nitrate yet. I still prefer zinc + sulfur for its brilliant colour and level of energy.

UPDATE (January 11, 2005):
I tested a composition consisting of 3.5g Ba(NO3)2 + 1.5g KClO3 + 1g sulfur. This is a chlorate/sulfur composition and as such is sensitive. It didn't ignite very easily, but still took no more than a flame. It burned with a pretty brilliant green and left quite a bit of slag. All in all it's quite nice.

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