Potassium Chlorate - Ghazal Hashemi

The figure above is a personal hand-drawn representation of the production of potassium chlorate. *BEWARE: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME*
(Picture taken by Ghazal Hashemi, November 18, 2013)

Ever wondered why fireworks are so explosive? Or what causes your match-head to burn? Even a better question is… have you ever just wanted to set a gummy bear on fire?

If your answers to the above questions are a yes, then read on!
Potassium Chlorate is a very powerful oxidizer, with the chemical formula of KClO₃ this chemical is a colorless, odorless crystal (3) with quite the booming personality (excuse the pun). This just means that it can cause things to combust very easily. Anything that can burn can and will burn extremely fast and hot with potassium chlorate. All this excess heat and the expansion of gases can cause explosions!

In fact, roughly fifty percent of match-heads are made of potassium chlorate (1).  This is why it is famously used in pyrotechnics or otherwise known as fireworks. The famous “willow tree” effect in fireworks is especially due to the presence of the potassium chlorate (1).

This chemical has many uses such as being used as the active ingredient in pesticides, and being also used as an herbicide and a microbiocide (1). Another interesting use of potassium chlorate can be found in initiating the process of flowering in fruit trees that are out of season (1).

The production process of potassium chlorate is illustrated through the image above, however it does come with a warning to beware of not experimenting with this unless you have proper lab gear (gloves, goggles, lab coat, etc.) and a fume hood due to the fact that toxic chlorine fumes are given off through the vapours during the heating of bleach.
Potassium chlorate has also been proven to be extremely space efficient in terms of generating oxygen gas upon being heated past its melting point (368 degrees celcius) (2).

Nevertheless, you should be extremely cautious when handling this chemical. It is an eye, skin, and intestinal tract irritant.(4) It can also cause oxygen depletion in your blood and lead to anemia.
So next time you watch fireworks, you know a little bit more of how the BOOM is created!

References

1) Zinni, Y. Uses of potassium chlorate. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/list_7326326_uses-potassium-chlorate.html#ixzz2Awoi7PpU

2)  O’Neil, M. J., Heckelman, P. E., Koch, C. B., Roman, K. J. (14^th ed.) (2006). In The Merck index: An encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals (14th ed., p. 7622). Whitehouse Stations, NJ: Merck.

3) Coll, J. A. (1995). Final report on the safety assessment of Potassium Chlorate. TOXNET: Toxicology Data Network,14 (3), 221-30. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~sttnef:1
4) Coursen, D. L. (2006). Potassium Chromate (VI). McGraw-hill concise encyclopedia of science and technology.