iPod version

Manufacturer	Model	Distributor	FPS	Shutter Speed	Full Resolution	Clip Length
Photron	ultima APX	MCT Cameras David Wiese	1000	1/1000	1024×1024	0′21″

Lens	Focal Length	F-Stop	White Balance	ISO Speed	Lighting
Nikon 60mm f/2.8		f/2.8	3100k	Default	Minor incidental light from the moon.

Hello and welcome to another installment of “OMG that’s neat!”. Today we are looking at a snake, no not the kind that hides in the grass I’m afraid. Yup, you guessed it, this is the somewhat boring though still somewhat captivating kind they pawned off as fireworks all these years. Why on earth would we bother filming an already slow and potentially boring firework in high-speed? Because it is amazing how slow motion can turn something that may be dull and boring to some into something fascinating and new. What is a snake? The snake pellets they sell today are a nitrated mixture of Linseed Oil and Naphthalenes. At one point in time they were Mercuric Thiocyanate, however as you can tell that would contain Mercury which is not the best of ideas. The formation of the snake itself is caused by the gas released by combustion fluffing up unburned material, generating a connected foam.

Materials
One snake firework.
Black Background
Night

Procedure
Light the snake and allow it to burn for a few moments.
Capture.

Result
A snake that isn’t half as boring as watching it in real time.

Observations
The flames on the snake were unexpectedly neat to watch. They are incredibly active, more so than I was initially expecting. The snake pellets apparently burn in a ring around the exterior of the pellet once it gets going. It would be interesting to see what would occur with a higher temperature, continuous flame. A topic for another day I suppose.

Full Resolution download: Coming soon…