BOMB PLANS

[Mark M.]

On Sun, 28 Jul 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

> The Sunday San Francisco Examiner had an article about how simple
> it is to make a pipe bomb.  It was syndicated from the Dallas
> Morning News.  In the article a "federal bomb expert" opined:
> 
> 	They're probably one of the more common explosive
> 	devices that are encountered.  That's because the
> 	pipe not only provides a container, but fragments
> 	into sharapnel."                        ^^^^^^^^^
> 	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Now I don't know what takes to qualify one as a "bomb expert,"
> but the standards must be pretty low.  The reason hand grenades
> look like pineapples is because it's very difficult to get metal
> to fragment unless it is scored or otherwise predisposed to come
> apart in little pieces.  What I've been told is that a pipe bomb
> just peals open at it's weakest place and otherwise stays in one
> piece.  Don't know, but that's what I've heard.  Makes sense to
> me.

You're right.  A pipe bomb isn't even technically a "bomb".  It just has
various combustible chemicals within a sealed container.  The explosive force
is just due to the high pressure released.  Nails and screws can be used as
shrapnel, but if the container was scored, the explosive force would be
weakened.  Newer hand grenades have scored wire wrapped around the core so
when it explodes, the container is shattered and the wire fragments fly out
at very high speeds.  I would guess that these are more powerful than the
"pineapple" grenades.

-- Mark

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