Help me understand the difference between a firecracker and an artillery shell

[upNdown]

I guess the actual question is - how is a salute shell different from an effect shell. But it amounts to the same thing, as far as I'm understanding it. Because a salute shell is really just a firecracker with a lift, right? But here in America, for consumers, a firecracker is limited to 50 mg, and an artillery shell is limited to 60 grams. the difference is a factor of 1200. So why the huge difference? I guess the fact that consumers don't have access to salute shells is a tip that there's a fundamental difference between a salute shell and an effect shell? Are firecrackers (and salute shells) just constructed differently than effect shells, or are they made of different stuff? Or both?
Thanks for your efforts in explaining things.

[Birdman]

As I understand it, consumer shells must have a certain amount of composition that makes the effect which means less room for composition that makes it go boom. I'm sure others can go into much more detail.

[Merolis]

Salute shells (1.3g) and firecrackers may use flash powder rather than black powder. The restrictions are very strict on flash powder as it is a high explosive that is prone to static, shock, and fire ignition. Flash powder explodes with significantly more speed which is why salute shells are much louder than similar sized aerial shells. The risk of injury is higher with flash powder compared to more benign explosives like gun powder or black powder that stable to handle. Flash powder detonates when confined, and a piece of paper on top of a tube is enough to be confinement. Some versions of flash powder are so ridiculous to handle that the material can self confine and explode in the open in rather small amounts (less than a 1.75 inch shell load).

[upNdown]

I appreciate the explanations.
So with effect shells, is the bang still caused by flash powder? Or is it black powder? Or is it some mixture in between? I guess I understand that the effects themselves are caused by the stars. But there seems to be an awful lot of powder inside those things, compared to what’s allowed in firecrackers.

[chris v]

Atf limits aerial shells with flash comp to I believe 145mg for consumer use and ground effects to 50mg