Smoke bomb

Last updated
A man holding a lit smoke bomb Pyrotechnics training DVIDS1092555.jpg
A man holding a lit smoke bomb
A police officer kicks a smoke bomb in Malmo in 1985. Rokbomb - 1985 Malmo.jpg
A police officer kicks a smoke bomb in Malmö in 1985.

A smoke bomb is a firework designed to produce a large amount of smoke upon ignition.

History

Early Japanese history saw the use of a rudimentary form of the smoke bomb. Explosives were common in Japan during the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. Soft cased hand-held bombs were later designed to release smoke, poison gas, and shrapnel made from iron and pottery. [1] The modern smoke bomb was created in 1848, by the British inventor Robert Yale.[ citation needed ] He developed 17th-century Chinese-style fireworks and later modified the formula to produce more smoke for a longer period of time.

A pyrotechnic smoke bomb Rauchbombe.JPG
A pyrotechnic smoke bomb

Colored smoke devices use a formula that consists of an oxidizer (typically potassium nitrate, KNO3), a fuel (generally sugar), a moderator (such as sodium bicarbonate) to keep the reaction from getting too hot, and a powdered organic dye. The burning of this mixture boils the dye and forces it out of the device, where it condenses in the atmosphere to form a smoke of finely dispersed particles.

Home-made smoke bombs, even preceding Yale's 1848 invention, were and are most commonly used in pranks and street conflicts. They are typically made from materials that burn poorly and contained in vessels with a limited air intake that inhibit combustion. Because both the ingredients and uses are unpredictable, home-made smoke bombs are often categorized as an incendiary device.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molotov cocktail</span> Type of improvised incendiary weapon

A Molotov cocktail is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse. In use, the fuse attached to the container is lit and the weapon is thrown, shattering on impact. This ignites the flammable substances contained in the bottle and spreads flames as the fuel burns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bong</span> Device used for smoking tobacco, cannabis, or other herbal drugs

A bong is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the smoke flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bomb</span> Explosive weapon that uses exothermic reaction

A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanical stress, the impact and penetration of pressure-driven projectiles, pressure damage, and explosion-generated effects. Bombs have been utilized since the 11th century starting in East Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T-shirt</span> Style of inexpensive fabric shirt

A T-shirt is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generally made of stretchy, light, and inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th century, transitioned from undergarments to general-use casual clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium carbonate</span> Chemical compound

Sodium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water. Historically, it was extracted from the ashes of plants grown in sodium-rich soils. Because the ashes of these sodium-rich plants were noticeably different from ashes of wood, sodium carbonate became known as "soda ash". It is produced in large quantities from sodium chloride and limestone by the Solvay process, as well as by carbonating sodium hydroxide which is made using the Chlor-alkali process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incense</span> Material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt

Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be used as a simple deodorant or insect repellent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrotechnics</span> Science of creating combustibles and explosives for entertainment

Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition. This trade relies upon self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions to make heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound. The name comes from the Greek words pyr ("fire") and tekhnikos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censer</span> Vessel for burning incense or perfume

A censer, incense burner, perfume burner or pastille burner is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. They vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times throughout the world. They may consist of simple earthenware bowls or fire pots to intricately carved silver or gold vessels, small table top objects a few centimetres tall to as many as several metres high. Many designs use openwork to allow a flow of air. In many cultures, burning incense has spiritual and religious connotations, and this influences the design and decoration of the censer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incendiary device</span> Weapons intended to start fires

Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire, using materials such as napalm, thermite, magnesium powder, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus. Though colloquially often known as bombs, they are not explosives but in fact are designed to slow the process of chemical reactions and use ignition rather than detonation to start or maintain the reaction. Napalm, for example, is petroleum especially thickened with certain chemicals into a 'gel' to slow, but not stop, combustion, releasing energy over a longer time than an explosive device. In the case of napalm, the gel adheres to surfaces and resists suppression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shell (projectile)</span> Payload-carrying projectile

A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage sometimes includes large solid kinetic projectiles, which are more properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoke screen</span> Airborne obscurant using gas and particulates

A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shagreen</span>

Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocket artillery</span> Class of rockets used as artillery

Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rocket explosives as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used. Fire arrows were also used in multiple launch systems and transported via carts. The first true rocket artillery was developed in India by the Kingdom of Mysore. In the late nineteenth century, due to improvements in the power and range of conventional artillery, the use of early military rockets declined; they were finally used on a small scale by both sides during the American Civil War. Modern rocket artillery was first employed during World War II, in the form of the German Nebelwerfer family of rocket ordnance designs, Soviet Katyusha-series and numerous other systems employed on a smaller scale by the Western allies and Japan. In modern use, the rockets are often guided by an internal guiding system or GPS in order to maintain accuracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colored smoke</span> Type of smoke

Colored smoke is a kind of smoke created by an aerosol of small particles of a suitable pigment or dye.

<i>Bingata</i> Traditional resist-dyed fabric originating in the Ryukyuan Islands in Japan

Bingata is a traditional stencilled resist dyeing technique originating in Okinawa Prefecture. Bingata typically features a busy pattern of repeating nature motifs such as fish, flowers and fauna in a number of bright colours. Bingata is worn during traditional Ryukyuan festivals and traditional arts performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-handling device</span> Component of a munition

An anti-handling device is an attachment to or an integral part of a landmine or other munition such as some fuze types found in general-purpose air-dropped bombs, cluster bombs and sea mines. It is designed to prevent tampering or disabling, or to target bomb disposal personnel. When the protected device is disturbed, it detonates, killing or injuring anyone within the blast area. There is a strong functional overlap of booby traps and anti-handling devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of gunpowder</span> Aspect of history

Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty. Knowledge of gunpowder spread rapidly throughout Asia and Europe, possibly as a result of the Mongol conquests during the 13th century, with written formulas for it appearing in the Middle East between 1240 and 1280 in a treatise by Hasan al-Rammah, and in Europe by 1267 in the Opus Majus by Roger Bacon. It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 10th century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun in the 13th century. While the fire lance was eventually supplanted by the gun, other gunpowder weapons such as rockets and fire arrows continued to see use in China, Korea, India, and this eventually led to its use in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Bombs too never ceased to develop and continued to progress into the modern day as grenades, mines, and other explosive implements. Gunpowder has also been used for non-military purposes such as fireworks for entertainment, or in explosives for mining and tunneling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenade</span> Small bomb that can be thrown by hand

A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand, but can also refer to a shell shot from the muzzle of a rifle or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade generally consists of an explosive charge ("filler"), a detonator mechanism, an internal striker to trigger the detonator, an arming safety secured by a transport safety. The user removes the transport safety before throwing, and once the grenade leaves the hand the arming safety gets released, allowing the striker to trigger a primer that ignites a fuze, which burns down to the detonator and explodes the main charge.

<i>Yūzen</i> Japanese dyeing technique for textiles

Yūzen (友禅染) is a Japanese resist dyeing technique where dyes are applied inside outlines of dyed or undyed rice-paste resist, which may be drawn freehand or stencilled; the paste keeps the dye areas separated. Originating in the 17th century, the technique became popular as both a way of subverting sumptuary laws on dress fabrics, and also as a way to quickly produce kimono that appeared to be painted freehand with dyes. The technique was named after Miyazaki Yūzen, a 17th century fan painter who perfected the technique. Miyazaki Yūzen's fan designs became so popular that a book called the yūzen-hiinagata was published in 1688, showing similar patterns applied to kosode. A fashion for elaborate pictorial yūzen designs lasted until 1692.

<i>Tanmono</i> Traditional bolt of narrow-loom Japanese cloth

A tanmono is a bolt of traditional Japanese narrow-loomed cloth. It is used to make traditional Japanese clothes, textile room dividers, sails, and other traditional cloth items.

References

  1. Turnbull, Stephen (2004). Ninja AD 1460 - 1650 ([3. Dr.] ed.). Oxford: Osprey. ISBN   978-1-84176-525-9.