There has been interest in the detection of particles from fireworks smoke locally and globally.  Concerns about the high mass loadings of metals that occur over short time periods due to pyrotechnics have lead to studies in various places, including Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  Here in Utah, several state sampling sites have detected very high concentrations of particulate matter on and around summer holidays (July 4th and 24th), forcing the state to report these days as high air pollution days.

As an attempt to address this research issue, the Silva group conducted some research this summer to determine whether our instrumentation (aerosol mass spectrometer) could be used to detect pyrotechnic components and to what extent we could quantify components of fireworks in the atmosphere.  This study thus had two goals: 1) characterized the ability of the AMS to detect chemical species present in fireworks smoke and 2) attempt to quantify the amount of fireworks smoke in the air at several sampling locations.

Eric Vawdrey, an undergraduate student in the Silva lab received research funding for this project from Sigma Xi's Grant in Aid of Research program. and from USU College of Science undergraduate research program.  Eric's project first involved testing the ability of the AMS to detect chemical species present in fireworks.  Normally, the oven used to vaporize chemicals in the AMS operates at a vaporization temperature of ~600° C.  This temperature allows us to detect the most significant components of airborne particles in typical urban environments.  However, it is not hot enough to detect the very refractory components such as metals and metal oxides that are significant components of pyrotechnics.  Thus, Eric began his research by running a set of calibration compounds that one would expect to observe in fireworks smoke.  Following these calibrations, the AMS sampled ambient air at several different locations where we expected significant fireworks smoke.