Handheld sparkler fireworks and glow sticks are fun to stare at in a dark room, but if you want to see a real light show, crush them with a hydraulic press.
In a video posted Friday by the Hydraulic Press Channel on YouTube, a 40-ton "travel press" made by MKH-press crushes the kind of sparklers one might light for a festive occasion.
As the press slams down on the lit sparklers, the sparks are scattered in a spectacular display.
Up next, the hydraulic press does its worst to glow sticks. Unlike with the sparklers, all the press does to the glow sticks is make a big mess of the liquid inside -- a mixture of dibutyl phthalate, hydrogen peroxide and phenyl oxalate ester.
This is probably a good time for an important reminder: Don't try this at home. However, for those interested in knowing the minutiae of the video production, the slow motion scenes were filmed with a Chronos 1.4 high-speed camera.
In the past, the Hydraulic Press Channel has crushed everything from a disco ball to a Nokia 3310 phone, all in the name of science.
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