What determines the loudness of the bang in crackling stars?

[yannismanesis]

So, this question came to my mind after seeing a wide variety of sound levels in crackling stars, from loud almost crosette-like bangs, to very soft, almost glitter-like bangs, and I wondered what's responsible for the different sound, what determines the loudness of a crackle star bang? Sorry if the question sounds silly, I'm a beginner.

[NeighborJ]

There are two very similar effects which often get confused. Crackling micro stars are formulated to spawl off small bits which crack away from the main body. Dragon eggs will crack once with a loud bang.

 

Dragon eggs rely on the MgAl particle size to determine both the smolder phase timing and the volume. Larger mesh metals make a longer smolder phase but a louder crack. In the extremes a too large particle size will foul up the timing of the smolder phase so a group of eggs will sound like crackling micro stars. The goal for eggs is to make the loudest crack possible while getting all the eggs to crack simultaneously.

 

Crackling microstars remove timing from the equation and aren't as sensitive to MgAl particle size. That being said, it is possible that micro stars can spawl from the main star leaving the main body unreacted. For this reason the particle size is still of great importance.

 

Priming is also very important. It isnt going to create good timing if the star is only ignited from one edge, they are more likely to spawl leaving unreacted particles. It is important to create evenly sized stars with even coating of prime using potassium dichromate in the prime.

[yannismanesis]

Thank you very much for your time and effort. Could you send me one video of a crackle microstar and a dragon's egg, to help me seperate them inside my mind?

[NeighborJ]

The second rocket had crackling micro stars embedded in C-6 matrix stars.

I believe pyrohook has a good video showing his dragons eggs with his special Ti prime. I'll look for it.

[NeighborJ]

https://youtu.be/mopRrlwlLxs

This rocket had dragon eggs. They all go off with a single bang.

[yannismanesis]

So is this video mislabeled as crackle microstars when it's really dragon eggs?

[NeighborJ]

Yes

[Mumbles]

Crackling microstars and dragon eggs are two terms used interchangeably for the same effect. Trying to differentiate them or apply different terms to how often the grain explodes is not going to get you very far in the grand scheme of pyrotechnics literature or information/videos out there.