Bomb-Making 101

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-03-24 02:25pm

From the WV Daily Mail:

Teenager charged with making bomb

By The Associated Press
Wednesday March 24, 2004

MARTINSBURG -- A 14-year-old boy has been accused of bringing a homemade incendiary device to school that he learned to make on the Internet.

The eighth-grader at North Middle School, whose name was not released because of his age, was charged with a felony count of possession of an incendiary device and released to the custody of his mother, Assistant Berkeley County Prosecutor Joshua Henline said Tuesday.

Later, he appeared with his mother in Berkeley County Magistrate Court for a detention hearing to determine whether he would remain in his family's custody or be sent to a juvenile detention facility.

Assistant Berkeley County Prosecutor Betsy Giggenbach said she could release the outcome of the hearing because it involved a juvenile.

If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in a detention center and a fine up to $5,000.

Detective Cpl. L.G. Witt of the Martinsburg Police Department said the device was flammable but not explosive.

Henline and Giggenbach described the device as an empty facial cleanser container with a Styrofoam cup inside filled with gasoline and sealed with a lid.

Giggenbach said the boy bragged to friends about the device. The students then notified school officials who contacted authorities. The school was not evacuated.

Firefighters found the container in one of the boy's pockets.

"He indicated he was going to throw it away,'' Giggenbach said.

Jane Marie Borger, spokeswoman for Berkeley County Schools, said the device contained about two ounces of flammable material.

The boy was suspended for 10 days. He must appear before the county school board for an expulsion hearing.

The things you can learn online.....

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-03-24 02:53pm

kind of sad. though really, making a simple bomb isn't exactly incredibly difficult. most kids could do it with simple materials lying around the house, and figure out how by reading a crime story or browsing the internet.

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2004-03-24 02:58pm

Back in my day, we used to make this sort of thing right in chem class. Our teacher showed us how to make thermite and I was requested to bring in a sample of my home-made napalm.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-24 03:12pm

Heck, isn't that half the point of the fourth of july? Blowing random stuff up with concoted fireworks of varying degrees of dangerousness?

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-03-24 04:23pm

Darth_Zod wrote:kind of sad. though really, making a simple bomb isn't exactly incredibly difficult. most kids could do it with simple materials lying around the house, and figure out how by reading a crime story or browsing the internet.

Ironically enough, you can basically recreate what he made, just from this article.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-03-24 05:06pm

C'mon, it's just a cup filled with gasoline, not exactly a chemistry genius.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2004-03-24 07:30pm

Wow, he made some crappy napalm. I'm so impressed. Bleh.

There's no problem with making this kind of thing, but bringing it to school is moronic.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2004-03-24 09:20pm

What's more impressive is correcting formulas for thermite on Wikipedia, like I've done. ;p

And I've never even made thermite, I just know the chemistry.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-03-24 09:37pm

When I was his age I was tryin' to burn the school down with an aerosol can of WD-40.

Ok, so that's not entirely true, we weren't trying to burn the school down, we just wanted to play with a cool mini-flamethrower. But goddamn, is that kid dumb or what? You're suppose to wait till recess or after school and go "hey guys, watch this" and light it off, this destroys the evidence and then it's just their word against yours, but more importantly, damn, he has the wrong kind of friends.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2004-03-24 10:41pm

If j00r too fucking stoopid to keep it at home, wait till recess or keep your trap closed then j00 deserve what j00 fucking get.

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2004-03-24 11:10pm

Mmm, fire.

I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-03-24 11:22pm

I believe we were talking about some idiot who made a small homemade incendiary device and then snuck it into school, thus violating numerous rules and getting a well-earned suspension and possibly expulsion. At 14, I see he is already getting a good start on his future career as an undirected loser.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-03-25 01:06am

The kid was stupid. However I dont think he should be convicted for ten years for this.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-03-25 04:48am

I burned a tree in school. Well just a bit. I was just confirming if what McGuyver said about sap being a good combustible was true.

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » 2004-03-26 03:25am

Slartibartfast wrote:C'mon, it's just a cup filled with gasoline, not exactly a chemistry genius.

You also need a jelling agent, like styrofoam.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-03-26 03:42am

IIRC it doesn't take gasoline very long to disolve a styrofoam cup. So I'm either misreading the article or he had put gasoline in the device shortly before the cops grabbed him.

Unless the gas was in the container with the cup but the cup hadn't been put into the gas?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-26 03:55am

Nathan F wrote:Heck, isn't that half the point of the fourth of july? Blowing random stuff up with concoted fireworks of varying degrees of dangerousness?

Damn I thought it was supporting the american indian tribes with untaxed tabbaco and dianamite

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2004-03-26 11:48am

Last month, there was a Swedish 13-year-old kid that made 400 grams (I think it was that much) of some explosive substance, from a recipe he found on the net, and took it out to the park to test it. He had made some ignition device for it but when he could make it explode from a distance, the dumb-fuck went up to it and tried to ignite it with matches or something. It blew a three metre wide hole in the ground.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-26 12:21pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:
Nathan F wrote:Heck, isn't that half the point of the fourth of july? Blowing random stuff up with concoted fireworks of varying degrees of dangerousness?
Damn I thought it was supporting the american indian tribes with untaxed tabbaco and dianamite

Well...that too.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-26 12:21pm

Slartibartfast wrote:I burned a tree in school. Well just a bit. I was just confirming if what McGuyver said about sap being a good combustible was true.

And we made a home made rocket in physics class.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-03-26 01:50pm

Dooey Jo wrote:Last month, there was a Swedish 13-year-old kid that made 400 grams (I think it was that much) of some explosive substance, from a recipe he found on the net, and took it out to the park to test it. He had made some ignition device for it but when he could make it explode from a distance, the dumb-fuck went up to it and tried to ignite it with matches or something. It blew a three metre wide hole in the ground.

was there anything left of the kid?, or was he just goo lining the 3 meter hole?

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2004-03-26 05:20pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:
Dooey Jo wrote:Last month, there was a Swedish 13-year-old kid that made 400 grams (I think it was that much) of some explosive substance, from a recipe he found on the net, and took it out to the park to test it. He had made some ignition device for it but when he could make it explode from a distance, the dumb-fuck went up to it and tried to ignite it with matches or something. It blew a three metre wide hole in the ground.
was there anything left of the kid?, or was he just goo lining the 3 meter hole?

I don't think there were even that much left of him... The article I read just said he didn't survive, though. But if he is stupid enough to ignite something he knows is supposed to be highly explosive with matches, then he deserves to be blown to pieces. At least he won't hurt anyone else that way.

Just like the guy in article this topic is about; what the hell was he thinking?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-03-26 05:26pm

kojikun wrote:What's more impressive is correcting formulas for thermite on Wikipedia, like I've done. ;p

And I've never even made thermite, I just know the chemistry.

My Chem teacher made us thermite as a demo.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-26 07:34pm

I used to live in an old blacksmith's barn, with my bed over blasting caps and various other substances. I learned how to dig holes for a septic tank the FAST way.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-26 07:36pm

I used to live in an old blacksmith's barn, with my bed over blasting caps and various other substances. I learned how to dig holes for a septic tank the FAST way.