Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Dot Matrix Firework Display

Array of fireworks to print a big banner in the sky!
  (+12)(+12)
(+12)
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I've always wanted to see more creative things done with fireworks. Imagine at the end of a (Insert national holiday of choice) firework show, a massive barrage of fireworks is launched into the sky; a row nearly 800m long of around 1600 miniature mortars fire off. At the apogee of their flight, they all explode nearly simultaneously, and burn for a second or so to reveal a huge (Insert country of choice) flag at some height above the ground!

The calculations as to the size of the flag, would largely depend on the repeatability of the launching devices. The fireworks at the top of the flag would have to be launched earlier, and with more powder, the delay of the firework would also have to be slightly longer. The launch would definitly be computer controlled, to get the timing as exact as possible. Since the higher the fireworks go, the less repeatable they become, the fireworks would have to be launched from an easily visible location, to a relatively small height, off a bridge?

This idea has been floating around in my head for quite sometime, perhaps I read it here. I can't seem to find it though.

swimr, Aug 06 2009

3D Display Helicopter http://www.popsci.c...opters-3-d-displays
MIT research on creating a display using synchronized mini helicopters with display uts [theircompetitor, Feb 21 2010]

[link]






       It's do-able, but rather expensive and complex to set out (takes a lot of physical real estate for all the tubes).   

       Disney have the technology; they cold-launch the shells for the EPCOT displays from permanent steel tubes, using compressed air instead of a pyrotechnic lifting charge. The delay train in the shell is triggered electrically just before the shell launches. Altitude is controlled by air pressure. Burst time could be tweaked by prefiring the bursting charge delay.   

       Eminently Bakeable.
8th of 7, Aug 06 2009
  

       + I like this. I'm surprised it hasn't been attempted before.
Zimmy, Aug 07 2009
  

       It's the ideal halfbakery idea: Theoretically possible, but difficult and expensive to actually implement, and delivering an end result just marginally better than could be acheived by much cheaper, simpler means. [+]

It would be cool to use this method to display a picture of a traditional firework exploding.
hippo, Aug 07 2009
  

       //Theoretically possible, but difficult and expensive to actually implement, and delivering an end result just marginally better than could be acheived by much cheaper, simpler means.//   

       Sadly (?) that is the bulk of my ideas. I wonder if shooting coloured smoke bombs would be better than fireworks, as the image would last longer.
swimr, Aug 10 2009
  

       Pyrotechniques. (+)   

       // coloured smoke bombs //   

       Not really. For smoke-based daylight fireworks to be effective you nead near-zero windspeed, low humidity and minimal convection. These conditions only tend to occur just after dawn on frosty winter mornings. Any turbulence causes immediate drift and mixing. Just watch how fast the smoke trials from aerobatic aircraft disperse.
8th of 7, Aug 10 2009
  

       Oooh... look mom, the Mona Lisa!
RayfordSteele, Aug 12 2009
  

       Couldn't immediately find an idea that fits better with the link, worth seeing.
theircompetitor, Feb 21 2010
  
      
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