What does the fire have on itself that is so showy, so beautiful, so... hypnotic?
Since when I was a child, it was fascinating for me to see the flames from near when we lit bonfires, for several kind of reasons in our house in the outskirts of the city. Sometimes we needed to warm up large quantities of water, and a big bonfire with a cauldron over it served perfectly. Another times, to cook certain kinds of meals, we had to lit a fire in the yard of our house, and doubtless, my favourite moment in the year was always the Autumm, when the summer’s crop season had ended. After the harvest, we used to pick and stack the remains of harvested plants into huge piles that, after leaving them dry about two weeks outdoor, lit and watched from a safe distance. Our father always said that we had to watch out the fire in case of accident, but I think that he enjoyed by watching it as much as me.
All those situations and memories were always on my mind, even years later, after have moved and started my studies in the field of chemistry. Although it was not something that I was particularly passionated about, being able to closely study chemical reactions and sometimes being able to see beautiful flames resulting from various different mixes, was a big enough incentive to give it a try. I learned there that, if you add during combustion some kind of salts, the fire turns into different tonalities, green, blue, intense red, yellow, violet, all depending on the used material. I learned too into a better way how combustion works really, the role of the combustible on it, the need of oxygen to keep the flames alive, ow the fire reacts with different levels of oxygen and how useful different accelerating agents can be, like gasoline or alcohol.
As a good science student, I decided then to start experimenting by my own, trying to find new ways for my fixation. I tried with various chemical elements, looking for new colours, maybe it would be interesting to get coloured flames, for example, in black, pink or turquoise colour, who knows, but with the materials at my disposal and my funds, couldn’t get much further down that way, but my anxiety for new findings didn’t stop there.
Researching, I discovered other types of combustion, among which iron oxide was my main focus of entertainment. Those sparks that jumped all over the place when reacting with aluminium were pure delight for my eyes. Little by little, I refined the combinations and obtained the one that, in my opinion, gave me the best results and produced de most beautiful flames, and I began to make it almost daily. I had a goal in mind.
After those tests, and during the following two years, I devoted myself to obtaining certain components, sulphur, calcium, sodium, lithium, and lead, among others, that will give to my great project multi-coloured shades. I got a shed in a remote place and as time went by, I filled place with the materials, and later, the necessary compounds for that event.
One time everything was ready in the right quantity, hundred kilograms of chemical compounds, ready to react at the slightest spark, I took gloves, a resistant bag and filled it with a some of it, then I left my shed, went to the adjacent forest and began to spread it in a zigzagging pattern, over and over again, for three days, practically without resting, until I finally ended placing until the last gram of these compounds in the ground, ready to react. When I finished, took my lighter and threw it towards a small pile of the compounds, which began to react violently, igniting everything around it in a chain.
Everything, absolutely everything began to burn incredibly, colourful flames and sparks filled my field of vision in all directions, and the moment that the fire reached me and enveloped me with that embracing heat, a thought crossed my mind: “Without any doubt, these are the most beautiful flames I've ever seen in my life... I hope those families in that nearby camping zone are enjoying them as much as I do”.