Colored smoke
Type of smoke
title: "Colored smoke" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["pyrotechnics", "smoke"] description: "Type of smoke" topic_path: "general/pyrotechnics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_smoke" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Type of smoke ::
Colored smoke is a kind of smoke created by an aerosol of small particles of a suitable pigment or dye.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Red_Arrows_RIAT_2005.jpg" caption="[[Red Arrows]] air display team"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/A_Member_of_the_U.S._Navy_Parachute_Team,_the_Leap_Frogs,_descends_over_downtown_Los_Angles_during_the_2005_Extreme_Games.jpg" caption="2005 X Games"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Red_smoke_from_Army_display_parachutist_landing_29Sept2018_arp.jpg" caption="parachutist]] of the UK Lightning Bolts Army Parachute Display Team"] ::
Colored smoke can be used for smoke signals, often in a military context. It can be produced by smoke grenades, or by various other pyrotechnical devices. The mixture used for producing colored smoke is usually a cooler-burning formula based on potassium chlorate oxidizer, lactose or dextrin as a fuel, and one or more dyes, with about 40-50% content of the dye. About 2% sodium bicarbonate may be added as a coolant, to lower the burning temperature. Coloured smoke was first used in 1967 during an American burnout competition by a small contestant, as a means to wow the crowd.
Smoke released from aircraft was originally based on a mixture of 10-15% dye, 60-65% trichloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene, and 25% diesel oil, injected into the exhaust gases of the aircraft engines. Most commonly, teams now use specifically prepared liquid dyes and only gas oil, light mineral oil or a food grade white oil without harmful chlorinated solvents.
Mixtures
Some mixtures used for production of colored smokes contain these dyes: ;Red
- Disperse Red 9 (older, used e.g. was used in the M18 grenade)
- Solvent Red 1 with Disperse Red 11
- Solvent Red 27 (C.I. 26125)
- Solvent Red 24 ;Orange
- Solvent Yellow 14 (C.I. 12055) ;Yellow
- Vat Yellow 4 with benzanthrone (older)
- Solvent Yellow 33
- Solvent Yellow 16 (C.I. 12700)
- Solvent Yellow 56
- Oil Yellow R ;Green
- Vat Yellow 4 with benzanthrone and Solvent Green 3 (older)
- Solvent Yellow 33 and Solvent Green 3
- Solvent Green 3
- Oil Green BG
- Oil Green G ;Blue
- Solvent Blue 35 (C.I. 26125)
- Solvent Blue 36
- Solvent Blue 5 ;Violet
- Disperse Red 9 with 1,4-diamino-2,3-dihydroanthraquinone
- Solvent Violet 13 ;Raspberry
- Rhodamine B
References
References
- [http://xtrem-experiments.com/en-articles/pyro/155-compositions/156-colored-smoke Article about colored smoke mix] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-07-14 made with potassium chlorate.)
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