Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible?

[Caution]

Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible?

Binary liquid explosives are a sexy staple of Hollywood thrillers. It would be tedious to enumerate the movie terrorists who've employed relatively harmless liquids that, when mixed, immediately rain destruction upon an innocent populace, like the seven angels of God's wrath pouring out their bowls full of pestilence and pain.

The funny thing about these movies is, we never learn just which two chemicals can be handled safely when separate, yet instantly blow us all to kingdom come when combined. Nevertheless, we maintain a great eagerness to believe in these substances, chiefly because action movies wouldn't be as much fun if we didn't.

Now we have news of the recent, supposedly real-world, terrorist plot to destroy commercial airplanes by smuggling onboard the benign precursors to a deadly explosive, and mixing up a batch of liquid death in the lavatories. So, The Register has got to ask, were these guys for real, or have they, and the counterterrorist officials supposedly protecting us, been watching too many action movies?

We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. I don't doubt that explosives could be made

I have heard very little expert opinion on whether these explosives, in the quantity and type suggested, would bring down an airliner if detonated in the passenger cabin.

[Kailassa]

2. It all seems to be based on the admission of one man,

as were the arrests.

He could just as well be working for the government,
(he was picked up a few years back after the murder
of his uncle and then let go again,)
as working for, or running, any terrorist organisation.

Don't forget the most basic investigator's question,
... "who benefits?"

[Paranoid Pessimist]

3. Here's an article that addresses some of these issues

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/groundhog_day


If we don't hear details as listed in Galbraith's article we know we're being suckered again.

Of course, with JB Ramsey's supposed killer dominating the news most people won't care whether the airplane plot was bogus or not.

[eridani]

4. More chemweenie stuff on TAPT

The JACS article cited gives the original very dangerous method of synthesizing TATP and a much safer but slower method. The latter involves less concentrated H2O2 (30% instead of 50%) and only 5 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid. There are still quite a few flies in the ointment.

--you have to add the acid slowly to the acetone/peroxide mix at freezing temperatures.
--you then have to let the reaction go to completion at room temperature for 24 hours
--you then need to filter and air-dry the precipitate

The notion that this could be accomplished in an airplane bathroom during a flight is preposterous., assuming they could easily get their hands on 30% peroxide and concentrated sulfuric acid in the first place. Drug store peroxide is 1%, and battery acid is pretty dilute.

http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2006/08/peroxide-bomb-tatp-synthesis-methods.html

The original syntheses, which the authors utilize, shed light on why stories of terrorists throwing together acetone, peroxide and a little acid from the household into an insta-bomb inside an airplane washroom needed better editing. Can you purchase 50 percent hydrogen peroxide at your pharmacy? Do the syntheses cited mix up instantly? No and no.