USU researchers eyeing rocket’s red glare

Could the rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air we enjoy each July be filling our air, water and lungs with harmful particulates?

Utah State University student researcher Eric Vawdrey and faculty mentor Phil Silva plan to experiment with a tool during a large public fireworks display in Ogden next week to determine what’s expelled from those sparkly Independence Day spectacles.

Funded by a grant from Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society, along with support from USU and the Utah Division of Air Quality, Vawdrey, an undergraduate chemistry major, and Silva, an analytical chemistry professor, will use a portable mass spectrometer to detect a variety of compounds from residual fireworks smoke. Fireworks typically contain a fuel, an oxidizer and a binding agent to bring the first two components together, along with powdered metal chlorides that produce brilliant colors.

Public health officials and concerned citizens question the long-term safety of both commercial and residential fireworks, including whether or not particulates given off by fireworks are small and pervasive enough to penetrate lung tissue, whether they settle in streams, lakes and rivers and thus contaminate water sources, and whether they contain lead or other toxic substances.

Utah State’s project won’t answer these questions, but Vawdrey and Silva hope to make progress toward a reliable method of collecting and analyzing metal particles. “In all honesty, we don’t know what we’re going to see,” said Silva.