Bill Weimer: Hi, I'm Bill Weimer with Phantom Fireworks, talking to you about the selection and use of consumer fireworks. Now we're going to talk about rockets. A rocket is typically a cardboard cone filled with pyrotechnic composition attached to a rigid stick that's the guiding stick. When ignited the motor ejects a propelling compound that propels the rocket up into the air and gives you the flight pattern or a trajectory.

Traditionally, rockets were used just for their trajectory, but lately, rockets have tremendous payloads such as this rocket that actually has a shell attached to the head of the rocket. So at the height of the flight trajectory the shell will detonate and produce color, effects and noise. A missile is very similar in functionality to a rocket, except the missile is shaped more conventionally like a rocket with the body and fins, but functionally the propelling agent propels the missile into the air and it functions exactly like a rocket. A PVC launch tube should be sunk into the ground at a 75 angle. The PVC tube should be sunk into the ground at least a third to a half of its length. The PVC pipe cannot be too long, but it can't be too short. It has to be long enough so the entire stick can fit all the way down into the pipe with the fuse hanging over the lip of the pipe.

You should definitely follow the flight path of your rocket to make sure first it doesn't come down hot, and secondly, so that you can retrieve it and not end up littering your neighbor's property.

Now that we've become familiar with rockets and their functionality, let's move on to the classic firework device, tubes, mines and shells.