SMOKE BOMB

A PROJECT SUBMITTED BY TARUN PRABAKAR

REGD NO: 3895-20

IN ACCORDANCE TO INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

OF

CLASS XII IN DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

AFFLIATION NO:1930311

ADHYAPANA SCHOOL CBSE

MADURAI–DINDIGUL HIGHWAY, PARAVAI POST,

MADURAI-625018
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Tarun Prabakar has successfully

completed the Annual Investigatory Project on the topic

“Smoke Bomb” in the year 2020-21 as per the CBSE syllabus

for Chemistry in Adhyapana School CBSE, Madurai.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Chief Superintendent
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to our Correspondent Mrs. Aruna M Visvessar

and our Dean of Academics Mr. Visesh Aiyer and our

Principal Mrs. Rincy Jose for their continuous support and

motivation.

I like to express my gratitude to my Chemistry teacher Mrs.

Seenu Danny for her vital support, guidance, encouragement

without which this project would not have come forth.

I am thankful to my parents and classmate for their constant

support.
 INTRODUCTION

A smoke bomb is a firework designed to produce smoke

upon ignition. Smoke bombs are useful to airsoft games,
paintball games, self-defence and practical jokes. They are
also used in smoke tests.

HISTORY:
The smoke bomb was first created in 1848, by UK inventor
Robert Yale. He developed 17th-century Chinese-style
fireworks and later modified the formula to produce more
smoke for a longer period of time. Early Japanese history saw
use of a more 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]

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 limited air intake
that thwart combustion. Because both the ingredients and uses
are unpredictable, home-made smoke bombs are often
categorized as an incendiary device.
 EXPERIMENT
AIM:
To Prepare a Smoke Bomb.

THEORY:
Coloured smoke bombs use a mixture of an oxidizer, a fuel, a
moderant to keep the reaction from getting too hot, and a
powdered organic dye. When the mixture is burned, the dye
evaporates and is forced out of the device, where it condenses
in the atmosphere to form a cloud of fine particles, the smoke.
Other smoke bomb compositions produce different products,
but the principle is the same: a solid is produced and dispersed
into the air, creating a smoke that scatters and blocks light.
The sugar will be oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. The
nitrogen in the potassium nitrate will be reduced to nitrogen
gas. The potassium will end up as potassium carbonate (the
carbon coming from the CO2 from the sugar). Small amounts
of other products will be formed, of course, but these are the
only important ones.

Equation:
48 KNO3 + 5 C12H22O11---> 24 K2CO3 + 24 N2 + 36 CO2
+ 55 H2O
Requirements:
 Skillet/pan
 Fuse for ignition
 Coco cola tin
 Spoon for stirring
 Potassium nitrate (KNO3)/Salt peter
 Sugar
 Matchsticks
 Stove & lighter
 Oli pastel crayons
PROCEDURE:
1. Pour about 3 parts potassium nitrate to 2 parts sugar into
the skillet (5:3 ratio is also good). Measurements don't need to
be exact, but you want more KNO3 than sugar. If you use
equal amounts of KNO3 and sugar, your smoke bomb will be
harder to light and will burn more slowly. As you approach
the 5:3 KNO3: sugar ratio, you get a smoke bomb that burns
more quickly.
2. Apply low heat to the pan. Add some oil-based crayons to
the pan and let it melt. After that add the mixture to the pan
and stir it well. If you see the grains of sugar starting to melt
along the edges where you are stirring, remove the pan from
the heat and reduce the temperature before continuing.
3. After the mixture in the pan has become somewhat
powdery remove the pan from heat.
4. Cut open the lid of the tin and add the powder into it. Also,
add some matchstick tip into the tin for better ignition.
5. Now, using glue gun again attach the lid to the tin and place
the fuse in the hole of the lid.
6. Now, place the tin in outdoor and ignite the fuse.

OBSERVATION:
We can observe that coloured smoke comes out of the tin,
once we ignite the fuse.

RESULT:
Thus, we have created a coloured smoke bomb using
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) and sugar.
PRECAUTIONS:
 Make sure the fuse is not wet.
 Use only oil pastel crayons.
 Make sure that that the kno3 and sugar mixture has turned
into liquid before removing heat.

SOURCES OF ERROR:
 The fuse may be wet.
 The mixture may not be fully turned into liquid form.

SOURCE:
1. www.wikipedia.com
2. www.seminarsonly.com