Chemicals+Used+for+Entertainment

Chemicals are used for entertainment in many ways. They enhance special celebrations, recreation and everyday activities. In this report I will discuss some popular opportunities for a desired chemical reaction. Fireworks, glow sticks and movie magic are exciting ways that we use “chemicals of entertainment”. **__ Fireworks __** Fireworks are probably some of the most spectacular things that are man-made, and are probably high up on the list of the most awe inspiring things there are man-made //or// natural. When you see fireworks for the Macy’s Fourth of July Firework Spectacular, which most people watch on the TV, you still have your mouth open wide in amazement, even if you aren’t there. When you are at a good fireworks display, you can’t help but having a smile on your face while you watch the fireworks. The first recorded appearance of firecrackers was in China in the 600's (Thompson-Go Grolier). The Chinese invented the explosive powder used in guns, bombs, and even, the one and only, fireworks. If you haven't figured it out yet, its gunpowder! Even though fireworks were first in China, they somehow got all the way to Europe before Asian countries started trading with European countries. Fireworks were being produced in Europe before the end of the 1200's. Fireworks now are made of many different chemicals including aluminum, ammonium percholorate calcium carbonate carbon, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium (many compounds) strontium, sulphur, and titanium. Different chemicals are used for different fireworks, like how one combination makes a blue firework and one combination makes a red firework. Today in the United States, we shoot up fireworks on holidays like Independence Day and New Year’s. While amusement parks like Walt Disney World shoot fireworks every night. **__ Glowsticks __** Glowsticks are very cool even if they don’t last very long. Children use glowsticks on Halloween for safety and campers use glowsticks because they are a lightweight inexpensive source of light. They work like magic, you crack it and it suddenly glows, but there’s a lot more to glowsticks than magic. A glowstick is a plastic tube with a glass vial inside of it. In order to activate a glowstick, you bend the plastic stick, which breaks the glass vial. This allows the chemicals that were inside the glass to mix with the chemicals in the plastic tube. Once these substances contact each other, a reaction starts taking place. The reaction releases light, causing the stick to glow (hence the term ‘glowstick’).
 * Chemicals Used for Entertainment **

Heating a glow stick will accelerate the chemical reaction, causing the dye to emit a brighter glow” (Tom Harris 1) but if you do that, the glowstick will go out quickly.

Tom Harris **__ Movie Magic __** Movies use chemicals and chemical reactions to produce a good movie that is life-like and action packed and suspenseful. Different chemicals and combinations of chemicals are used to make special effects. It is much cheaper to use chemicals to do special effects than computer graphics and video editing. Some of the most common effects that chemical reactions are used for are fire (pyrotechnics), makeup and physical appearances, blood and luminescent substances. Pyrotechnics are created by adding flame to something combustible and oxygen. A movie that is good example of this is the classic thriller “Carrie”. Wounds, facial deformities and growths are made by using latex and ammonia giving it a fleshy appearance and body paints. Cheap horror films are known for having buckets of blood, sometimes literally an actual bucket of fake blood. The blood is made by mixing water, food coloring and corn syrup. This does not change the molecular structure of the components but they form a strong affinity for each other when stirred. The chemical reaction here is dissolution. The mad scientist hair look is also a chemical reaction. The reaction of thioglycolic acid and crystine amino acids causes a person’s hair to curl, giving it a wild and crazy look. I bet you look at movies, especially horror movies, differently now knowing that the special effects that you see involve chemicals some of which are everyday things. Who would have thought that chemicals could be used in so many different ways for entertainment? From a simple glow stick that the youngest child can play with to fireworks launched for all to see and even the “magic” of the cinema. Chemical reactions are all around us allowing us to be amazed, be safe and even be scared. The entertainment world has definitely been influenced by the use of chemicals and we all can surely appreciate the added benefits of science. **__ Works Cited __** "Fireworks." Reviewed by Edward Thompson. //The New Book of Knowledge.// Grolier Online, 2012.Web. 13 Mar. 2012. Burton, Andrew. "What Are the Chemical Reactions Commonly Used in Low-Budget Horror Films?." //eHow//. 17 July 2011. Web. 1 May 2012. Harris, Tom. "How do Glow Sticks Work." //Glow Stick Factory//. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. Mish, Frederick C. //Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary//. 9th. Springfield, Ma: Merriam-Webster, 1988. Print. Sparlin, Dan. //NCWiseOwl//. NC Department of Public Instruction, 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.
 * // “First, //// the hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, resulting in a chemical called phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester. Then, the unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in additional phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound. Next, the cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide. Then, this decomposition releases energy to the dye. Lastly, the electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher level, and then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light // .” ||