The electric match

There are many ways to light up fireworks: regular matches, lighters, blow torches and so on. Although, in modern times there is a more secure way - the Electric Match. Not only more secure but it also provides the possibility of better synchronization of firing.

The Electric Match is, as the name says, an electrically triggered match. It is build of a few components: 2 wires, a bridge (a thin metal between the wires with low electrical resistance) and a pyrotechnic composition (pyrogen) coated with some kind of lacquer for protection. When an electric current of about 1 Ampere passes through the bridge, it heats up and incinerates the pyrogen.

Below you can see a simple drawing of its parts and the electric schematic:

Electric matches are usually connected to firing systems that also have the ability of testing the connecticity of the electric matches (testing open or short circuits), so there is an upper current and lower current that the bridge can support before heating. Usually a current limited to a max of about 200mA (no-fire current) is applied to test the system but for firing a current of around 1A is required.

Here you can see some modern electric matches:

And finally a nice image from Wikipedia showing the firing sequence of an electric match:

As you can see, the electric match is a simple but useful device for security and timing in fireworks firing.

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