However, it may be impossible to prevent the publication of all information concerning the making and use of explosives. The problem of easy availability of information on how to make improvised explosive devices is compounded by the ease with which anyone can also obtain the necessary materials to make a bomb. Improvised explosive devices can be manufactured from such common chemicals as acetone (fingernail polish remover), peroxide (hair bleach), and one additional readily available ingredient. For example, Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), a combination of these ingredients, is currently the most common explosive used by terrorists in Israel. I have seen too many "dangerous" mistakes in this NG when AP is being discussed. I will rather give you the correct details that you make it and do not blow off your hands. You will need 30% Hydrogen Peroxide (6% will give you a rather poor yield). Now to get the 30% Hydrogen Peroxide, go to your local hospital chemist. 30% will never be sold to someone for their hair so don't try that story, so spin a story that the Peroxide is to clean a wound as it is a great disinfectant (diluted of course). The acetone can be bought at either a hardware store or at a hospital or normal chemist. If you get asked why you need the acetone, spin a story that it is used to thin paint, or to strip paint. Remember that acetone is highly flammable. The Hydrochloric Acid can be purchased from any swimming pool shop, or from your local hardware store. The type that goes into your pool is normally 31.5% and is perfect for what you need. The Hydrochloric acid will give you a trimmer, sulphuric acid will give you the dimmer version of the AP. Now that you have acquired all the ingredients, take a beaker or clean 500 ml bottle and place it into some nice cold water. Into this beaker, add 200 ml hydrogen peroxide (try not to get any of this onto your skin). Now add 150 ml of the acetone. Remember to do this outside as the fumes are rather unpleasant to breath in. You will feel the beaker will start to get a bit warm. Now add 50 ml hydrochloric acid to the mixture and stir with a glass rod. There that is all you have to do. Do this experiment in the evening and let the AP stand over night. In the morning you will see that you will have +- 2.5 cm of crystals at the bottom of the flask and +- 0.5 cm floating on the top of the flask. Take a glass funnel and insert coffee filter paper or oil filtering paper and filter the AP crystals out. Place these crystals out onto a sheet of clean paper and leave them to dry +- 1/2 a day to a day. Try to keep the crystals out of direct sunlight, preferably in a shady area. Place these dry crystals into a camera film container. Please do not hit these crystals with a hammer as a bright person claimed to have done, you could land up with that hammer in your forehead. AP is sensitive to heat and to friction. When the crystals do not respond to either friction or impact it simply means that the crystals are still too wet. WARNING: Acetone Peroxide is dangerous and very sensitive to FRICTION, SHOCK, HEAT OR FLAME. Handle with great care!! This composition is dangerous and would need to be handled by someone with a lot of common sense. If you do not have experience with explosives DO NOT MAKE THIS. I can not stress enough how unstable and dangerous acetone peroxide is. This explosive is the most unstable of all other explosives. Making large quantities is suicide as the weight of the crystals will detonate themselves. Information on Acetone Peroxide: Acetone peroxide is formed when hydrogen peroxide 30% acts on acetone. The introduction of dilute sulfuric acid causes the reaction to go into completion. There are actually two isomers of acetone peroxide, the first is tricycloacetone peroxide and the second is dicycloacetone peroxide. Both of these compounds are very similar, but the reaction seems to favor the tricyclo over the dicyclo. Both will be made in the reaction to differing degrees. The trimmer has about 80% the power of TNT. A quantity the size of a pea in contact with a flame will burn instantaneously with a small 'pop' and producing a fireball, much like HMTD does. Any sign of confinement will ensure that ignition will rapidly give rise to detonation. Acetone peroxide is a powerful primary explosive. It, as with other explosive peroxides, seems to be very volatile. In standing 10 days at room temperature, 50% of the sample will completely volatilize. It's vaporizable nature makes it a explosive that would have to be used immediately after manufacture. However, this explosive is compatible with metals and will not cause their corrosion and the subsequent dangers involved. It is also compatible with picric acid, R.D.X., T.N.T. and P.E.T.N. It is highly friction sensitive and extreme care should be taken to avoid this. Acetone peroxide is one of the most sensitive explosive known to man. Great care would be needed to handle this explosive carefully. Mixtures of R.D.X. and Picric acid with acetone peroxide are reported to be used between primary explosive and the base charge. Mixtures such as picric acid / acetone peroxide (40/60) or similar mixtures with R.D.X. and P.E.T.N. will give explosives greatly increased resistance to impact without losing much performance. These dried crystals would be ready to load into detonators for immediate use as the storage stability is not very good. DETONATION VELOCITY: 3750 M/sec. @ 0.92 G/cc 5300 M/sec. @ 1.18 G/cc FRICTION SENSITIVITY: Very Sensitive!!! Materials Sources ---------------- Acetone C3H6O - Used as a solvent for stripping paint and cleaning brushes. It can be purchased in pint to gallon sizes at hardware stores or paint supply stores rather cheaply. Sulfuric acid H2SO4 - Available at chemistry stores. Hydrogen peroxide H2H2 - Available at a beauty supply store and possibly a pharmacy. Procedure For Tricycloacetone Peroxide -------------------------------------- This information is no longer available. However I will give some tips on the procedure: I used a 500-mL beaker during the stirring/preparing of the AP. Make up a salt-ice tub. Place the beaker in the tub and cool it to 50 C. When adding concentrated (75%) sulfuric acid, do it drop by drop using an eye dropper. Stir the mixture continuously while adding the acid, keep the temperature between 50 C to 100 C, stop adding acid if the temperature gets to high. After adding all the acid continue stirring for 5 minutes. Keep the mixture in the tub for about 24 hours. After sitting a white precipitate should have formed. The mixture is poured over a filter to collect the crystals, then the white product is washed three times with distilled water. Allow the crystals to dry before using. Keep them damp if storing. I would suggest using this explosive within several days because it will quickly vaporize. If you wish to store the crystals, you should keep them damp. NOTE: If the crystals vaporize inside a container it will crystallize into a unstable form that will explode at the touch, even if damp! -----

From the Diane Feinstein Center for the First Amendment