Aerial Shells & Mortars
An aerial shell is a complex and beautiful firework. It consists of a paper/cardboard cup with some lift charge in it and a spherical container on top of it made of the same material. Inside this sphere, there are some stars (stars are solidified pieces of a star composition) arranged around the outside of it and also a burst charge in the middle. There is a time fuse in between these two main parts of an aerial shell. The aerial shell requires to be dropped into a HDPE plastic mortar tube in order for it to work. This device works similar to a cannon; it is lit and the lift charge burns quickly and produces a lot of gas, which then shoots the aerial shell into the sky from the mortar tube. The time fuse is ignited by the lift charge as it flies skywards and when the shell reaches it's peak, the time fuse ignites the burst charge which explodes the shell and releases some kind of effects (usually stars) which are lit by the burst charge and are thrown outwards.