How to Make Black Snake Firework Novelties

Black snakes are popular firework novelties that are fun to light, sit back and watch “slither”. Use a punk or lighter to light the black snake, the resulting effect is a long black tube of brittle ash that “snakes” as it grows larger and larger. Because these items are considered fireworks novelties in most states, the snakes don’t have a fire or explosion, they just give off a little smoke. Fireworks black snakes (sometimes called fireflies depending on the manufacturer) can be purchased at almost any fireworks stand or online fireworks store. If you have a bit of free time, you can also try making your own black snakes. It’s not hard at all, in fact it’s a great science experiment for you and your kids or class students.

You can make black snakes with common ingredients found in your kitchen, mostly baking soda and sugar plus alcohol, lighter fuel, or other fuel. To make the snakes, mix 4 parts powdered sugar (a fine sugar sometimes called icing sugar) with 1 part baking soda until evenly mixed. Get a rimmed tray and fill it with play box litter; this will be the base of your black molds for snacks. Make little mounds of sand, and then use your finger to make a depression in the middle of the sand. Fill this depression with fuel to wet it down and then add some of the sugar and baking soda mixture to the center. Use a lighter to ignite the materials and create the desired reaction: a puffed-up ash “snake” caused by carbon dioxide reacting with carbonate.

The reason this project works so well is based on chemistry 101. Baking soda (baking soda) breaks down into sodium carbonate, water vapor, and carbon dioxide gas, while heating sugar in oxygen produces water vapor and carbon dioxide gas. If a high-grade alcohol is used as fuel, the smoke released when ignited is not toxic at all. Making black snakes is a great project to undertake with children. Not only is mixing the ingredients fun, but the lighting and watching the snakes are sure to elicit “ooooohs”, “ahhhs”, and maybe even “that’s so gross, that’s cool”. If you want to see how homemade black snakes compare to commercial black snakes, simply place them side by side and watch all the extruding excitement.