Make Red Colored Stars w/ Strontium Compounds

[Squall]

I am wanting to make red colored stars and I would like to know where strontium compounds can be acquired. is there some household items that contain these compounds. I specifically would like to get strontium carbonate. thank you

 

[Cesium]

Red road flares often contain strontium nitrate. Never tried to extract/use it myself, but the process should be quite simple.

See here: http://www.orionsignals.com/safetydata/fuseehighway.pdf for a typical MSDS for a road flare. I am not sure how much strontium nitrate you'd get, but it would certainly be enough for pyrotechnic mixtures. I would suggest extracting with boiling water, then filtering out the insoluble sulfur and binder. From there, add baking soda to precipitate out insoluble strontium carbonate.

 

[mrjeffy321]

Strontium Carbonate is a fairly common, and relatively cheap, compound sold by pottery supply companies.
The SrCO3 can then be used as a red flame coloring agent either in its original Carbonate form, or it can be reacted with acids to produce other Strontium salts (like SrCl2 using HCl). You could also react SrCO3 with Nitric acid, providing you have any, to make Strontium Nitrate, both a flame colorant and an oxidizer in one.
Like Cesium said, Sr(NO3)2 is commonly used in road flares.
[Actually, a couple month’s back around the scene of a car accident . I started to smell something, something I recognized…I thought about it for a while and then it came to me…. “That’s the smell of Nitrates burning”, I checked, and yes, there were some Strontium Nitrate road flares which were set up by the cops.]

In my experience, Strontium Carbonate / Chloride gives more of an Orange-ish red than a red-red color in a flame. I like the reds obtained by using Lithium Carbonate (also a pottery supply).

http://www.amazingrust.com/Experiments/how_to/Images/Flame%20Test/Sr+2/Sr+2%20(SrCO3%20+%20SrCl2).jpg"
http://www.amazingrust.com/Experiments/how_to/Images/Flame%20Test/Li+/Li+1%20(LiCO3%20+%20LiCl).jpg"

 

[Squall]

thanks for the advise now i have to find some pottery stores around here. Will any pottery store have strontium compounds.

 

[mrjeffy321]

Will any pottery store have strontium compounds.

Probably, I think it is fairly common.