# whizzing whistling sounds in fireworks?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 11, 2005, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559 "2005-11-11T10:21:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559/1 "2005-11-11T10:21:41Z")

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How do they produce the sounds in fireworks (apart from the bangs of course). Just went to a diplay in the UK where many of the ground based ones made all sorts of whistling noises. Are there whistles in the tube somehow?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559/2 "2005-11-11T10:45:36Z")

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I was in jointly charge of setting off the (large, expensive) fireworks at a home display recently- one of the roman candle-type devices had a whistle; while this was working, we observed a small jet of flame emanating from the top of the tube; clearly the gaseous products of combustion are being forced by a whistle mechanism, but in order for the whistle to survive this, I don’t think the hot gases are going _through it_ - because this would necessitate using a durable material that, in the case of aerial fireworks, would be dangerous as it fell back to Earth.

I think it’s more likely that it’s done by passing the gases over the end of a tube that is sealed at the other end - like blowing across the top of a bottle - in the case of aerial charges, I expect the tube forms part of a shell that shortly afterward bursts open to release other stars/charges etc.

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**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559/3 "2005-11-11T11:31:36Z")

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[http://www.pyrouniverse.com/glossary.htm](http://www.pyrouniverse.com/glossary.htm)

Scroll to the bottom for “whistle” and “whistle mix”.  
[http://yarchive.net/explosives/whistle.html](http://yarchive.net/explosives/whistle.html) for discussion on how “whistle mix” actually works.

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whizzing-whistling-sounds-in-fireworks/330559/4 "2005-11-11T12:44:43Z")

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thanks for the links. I am a chemist but this pyrotechnics stuff is fascinating (and is what made me take up chemistry in the first place - making my own gunpowder)