Any explosive explosive experts here? About the TSA.....

[KansasVoter]

The underwear bomber was trying to light his bomb or used some chemical to ignite it I think.

Is a detonator powered by a battery too large or difficult to get on board? I thought blasting caps set off C4. I thought they were small?

Why not use those?

[MineralMan]

1. Blasting caps have a unique profile, and the xray machine

screeners are trained to spot them. That's not to say someone couldn't get one through security, of course. As for detonating a blasting cap, that wouldn't be difficult, using things that are not prohibited from the cabin. I'll not be more specific.

[KansasVoter]

3. I understand that sharing too much information is bad.......

but I can't believe the terrorists don't know more about explosives than many people here.

Seems like they are really bad at blowing up stuff. Shoe Bomb, underwear bomb, etc.

[MineralMan]

4. Well, the terrorists who carry out these things are often not

the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree. Often, it seems, they're working from sort of instructions and don't get it right. Remember the shoe bomber trying to light his shoes with a match or lighter? And the jockey shorts bomber? Again, not a bright fellow.

However, there are some very bright people on the terrorists' side. But they're not the ones likely to take on a suicide mission, I think. It's a good thing, too, since there might have been some disastrous events.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the experts can build the explosives, rig them on vehicles, then turn someone who knows nothing about how they're made loose with them. It's a little more difficult here, and bombs that have to be taken on planes are, out of necessity, small, and usually have to be assembled somehow while on the plane, since an assembled one would be pretty easy to spot.

Frankly, I think we've been very lucky. I'm not an expert on explosives, but I've used some on my parent's farm and in some mining operations. It's really not rocket science.

[KansasVoter]

6. Good points. Seems like it would be easier than it as been.

[old mark]

5. As stated, most bombers are not very technically proficient or ...smart.

Many commercial explosives are user friendly, but homemade explosives tend to be hit or miss - no real QC, you know, and trying to smuggle this stuff on a commercial flight is not easy.

mark

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. You got mail

[Warpy]

7. The guy was using a water activated chemical fuse

because blasting caps would have been discovered.