Ok, change everything I wrote to include "flash" powder. The point is, an air tank doesn't "explode" sending shrapnel and... A pressure cooker packed with an explosive plus ball bearings... does... very well.
Assuming the thing wasn't plugged in, it's probably just a decent vessel for a bomb and not a functional part of the explosion mechanism.
Of course, one could easily find out exactly what, why, and how it works and how to make your own with a simple google search. But I don't care to start a homeland security file on myself, so I'll pass. :-)
On Wed, 08 May 2013 23:23:46 -0500, -MIKE-
One thing I was wondering, did these Boston bombers make a practice bomb first anywhere? Was there ever any mention of that? After all, if someone intends to go out with their homemade bomb to do some damage, they usually want to know if the damned thing will work before they head out.
Assuming the thing wasn't plugged in, it's probably just a decent vessel for a bomb and not a functional part of the explosion mechanism.
Of course, one could easily find out exactly what, why, and how it works and how to make your own with a simple google search. But I don't care to start a homeland security file on myself, so I'll pass. :-) ================================================================= The pressure cooker is a needed part of the bomb. The pressure relief valve is not an issue. The pressure build up is too fast for it to vent it fast enough to make any difference. You could put the same components in a paper bag instead of the pressure cooker and all you would get is a fire.
I believe the vessel would have been better had it been stronger than a pressure cooker. Like a circuit breaker that protects the wiring in a house the 15 lb relief valve is to protect the cooker. I highly suspect that the lid popped off long before the potential was reached with the powder burn.
yes. there was a newspaper article that the fbi was questioning some people in reference to an explosion in the woods somewhere around boston.
Short answer, who knows? Long answer, these guys get training on this stuff from very scary people. The more they investigate this, I suspect it will show they had overseas al qaeda training. That said, there have been many attempts in the US that have failed. These don't make the headlines and when they do, it's not for long.
The only point that is pertinent in this discussion is that there is no blast powder in a compressor air tank. :-)
TNT doesn't need containment and atomic bombs need compression to explode, so?
Not that I said...
No, it needs containment or the power will just "flash". Again, it's a low-explosive.
They didn't need such "training" (though that's not to say that it didn't happen). Everything needed to make such a bomb is on the WWW. Terrorist-U is now an online curriculum.
Sure, everything is there as per instructions, but it was me, I'd be testing. I'd want to see if my homemade bomb goes 'pop' or goes 'BOOM'.
If terrorism is what I was aiming for, I'd want to see how small a bomb I could make that still had devastating effects. Etcetera. Think Mike called it though, they could have had practical training elsewhere.
Usually, perhaps. A notable exception was the uranium-based atomic bomb used at Hiroshima. There was no test bomb. The 1st atomic explosion WAS a test of the plutonium-based bomb like the one used at Nagasaki.
It's also said that a lot of the foiled plots were instigated by the FBI :-). Wonder how many of the fanatics would have done anything but bitch if they hadn't be pushed?
OTOH, if the FBI hadn't pushed them, someone else might have!
Because that a good enough excuse.
Yes, Uranium bombs are so trivial a test wasn't needed. In fact, the only country that failed on its first attempt was N. Korea.
Agreed.
Agreed. ================================================================================================= If that was the case, it would amount to a shaped charge, pointed straight up. It would be hell on ceilings and it would make it rain ball bearings. The pressure build would be so fast that, by time the locking lugs yielded, the pressure would be so high that the whole thing would fracture. Consider to that pressure cookers are cast. Cast aluminum is quite brittle. Chances are high that the lid let go before the rest of it. Maybe a pico second before.
Actually, I believe the first atomic bomb test was in New Mexico.
That was a Plutonium bomb. A test was needed to prove the implosion technique needed to make the PT supercritical. Uranium only takes the equivalent of a cannon barrel and a couple of shells. The first "test" of the Uranium bomb was over Nagasaki. It worked.
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