I promise I'm not a terrorist, but...how do you make a bomb?

The_Ink_Goddess said:

I promise. I'm not going to blow anything up. I'm writing a novel about a suicide bomber and the guy she's using to get her own way. She's a member of a cult, and they want to make her a "martyr to their cause" (if that makes sense). They want her to use the boy, but I DON'T KNOW WHAT FOR. Can someone help me? I was thinking about maybe they want to make it look like it was a lovers-pact-y kind of thing, but I think that just sounds stupid and contrived.

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Simple option is that the guy has something or can get something that she needs. The guy might have access to that thing in his own right, perhaps because of his job, or if he's too young (not sure how old) it might be his parent(s) who is/are the weak point and he might be able to take that thing from them.

Example: Let's say she wants to blow up a specific target. She needs an access card to get past the perimeter and close enough to do serious damage. The boy's father works at the site. She persuades the boy to steal his father's access card, and bang, she's in business.

Other things she might want:

• Component for the bomb.
• Switch off the security cameras in the area. She needs to not be caught on camera so the trail doesn't lead back to her allies, and/or so that if the bomb fails she can escape.
• Staged diversion drawing security officials away so she can more easily do her suicide bombing.
• If her target is a person, like a high-ranking government official or whatever, she might need that person's itinerary, details of their security, etc.

Just some quick ideas.

How to make a bomb? Ask Google.

Get a copy of this

A rudimentary way is to use thermite:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2081916_make-thermite.html

There are detailed descriptions n the internet, but if you want to make a uranium bomb, I could give you general directions. The manufacturing procedure might kill you. The rediation sickness would certainly be unpleasant.

Like porcupines making love: carefully!

If I'm smokin' enough as I follow your directions I might survive, though -eh?

PeterL said:

There are detailed descriptions n the internet, but if you want to make a uranium bomb, I could give you general directions. The manufacturing procedure might kill you. The rediation sickness would certainly be unpleasant.

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I know the question is a general one for research but in the story the actual construction only needs to be dealt with to the extent necessary to make the intention to construct one believable within the story parameters.

This has all the information you need, all online:

http://www.libertyreferences.com/improvised-munitions-handbook/improvised-munitions-handbook.shtml

From having grown up in a cult, I can tell you that children are not considered people (and therefore are expendable). They rank lower than pets until they exhibit some special skill that the adults don't have. As a kid, you see that and try to find a way to be special.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

And how do you make a homemade bomb?

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I swear I'm gonna get arrested for answering these questions one day.

Ok, it depends on what sort of bomb. I assume you mean a portable, high impact device. In which case only C4 is gonna do it. It's hard to get unless you knwo someone who knows someone. But not impossible.

If it's not a portable option then you can fashion a bomb out of a surprising number of things, fertilizer, sheep dip, sugar, car bateries, petrol, horse manure......

Seems a few pounds of black powder, well packed with some nails, nuts, bolts, electrically ignited, worn under some sort of cover garment, would be easily doable, the ingredients easily obtainable.

Kinda like the "hydrogen peroxide" bomb. Ingredients are usually easy to obtain. Instructions here.

Of course what your bomber uses may well depend upon what materials are available and, most important, what you want the bomb to do.

You do realize that, by using the T word and the B word together you've probably been flagged by the FBI?

Just kidding.

Depends entirely on the resources and method of transportation. Human bomb or car bomb?

If I were to do such a thing I'd get high nitrogen fertilizer (what McVeigh used). A detonator and something for shrapnel (ball bearings work best but nails or nuts and bolts work too). The last is especially important if it's a 'vest' style bomb, otherwise you wouldn't do much damage.

Julie Worth said:

How to make a bomb? Ask Google.

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Wayne K said:

Get a copy of this

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Drachen Jager said:

You do realize that, by using the T word and the B word together you've probably been flagged by the FBI?

Just kidding.

Depends entirely on the resources and method of transportation. Human bomb or car bomb?

If I were to do such a thing I'd get high nitrogen fertilizer (what McVeigh used). A detonator and something for shrapnel (ball bearings work best but nails or nuts and bolts work too). The last is especially important if it's a 'vest' style bomb, otherwise you wouldn't do much damage.

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The problem with a fertilizer bomb is that you need such high quanities of it to do anything.

For the same effect you could use a significantly smaller amount of sheep dip with sugar as a burner. You'd need it encased in something like a pipe, light and not quite able to contain the blast.

But again, both are slow explosions and in themselves won't cause a massive amount of damage unless you have some sort of debris in them.

says,

Use powdered aluminum. A low-order dispersion charge to distribute the powder in a cloud. A high-order ignition charge (around 2K F degrees) to ignite the cloud.

The term is thermobaric. It's a fuel/air bomb. Can also be done with gasoline and/or kerosene. You've seen those in movies. Big fireball if done in open atmosphere. Big bang if set off in enclosed space. Reflected shock waves and all that.

For more detail, read GUNTRAIN when it comes out. (Currently on Q so it may be a while.)

--Stan

And be sure to use the right kind of fertilizer.

benbradley said:

And be sure to use the right kind of fertilizer.

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Be sure to use the right trigger. You can, will skill and practice, make anything explode.

shaldna said:

The problem with a fertilizer bomb is that you need such high quanities of it to do anything.

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Huh? It's one of the more powerful chemical explosives known to man and the most commonly used one for mining and civil engineering.

It's a very effective explosive. More than 10x the power of black powder. Very high tech explosives like RDX and C4 are more powerful but not THAT much more powerful, RDX is about double and C4 is around 50% more. The only explosive that you can reasonably make in your home that's more powerful is nytroglycerin which is tricky and highly volatile. ANFO is cheap and easy to make, the only problem with it is that it's hard to detonate (which from another angle is a GOOD thing).

Drachen Jager said:

Huh? It's one of the more powerful chemical explosives known to man and the most commonly used one for mining and civil engineering.

It's a very effective explosive. More than 10x the power of black powder. Very high tech explosives like RDX and C4 are more powerful but not THAT much more powerful, RDX is about double and C4 is around 50% more. The only explosive that you can reasonably make in your home that's more powerful is nytroglycerin which is tricky and highly volatile. ANFO is cheap and easy to make, the only problem with it is that it's hard to detonate (which from another angle is a GOOD thing).

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Not hard to detonate at all.

I really hope the FBI doesn't flag me- but just in case : My step father is a certified demolitions/fireworks technician. My husband was his apprentice.

ANFO is his explosive of choice. Because, as Drachen pointed out, the stuff is darn powerful. A one gallon milk jug filled with ANFO can blow one hell of a hole in something. For kicks, the guys put a few 20oz bottles of it into the ground and plowed a garden with it. Seriously- plowed the ground with explosives.

Google ANFO or check out some YouTube videos of ANFO techs. It's amazing what it can do. Scary, too, considering the components are so easy to come up with.

Bombs in their simplest nature are simple.

You need a fuel, an oxidizer, and a catalyst, and a detonator.

The ingredients should be well mixed and then compressed into a container. You should have enough oxidizer to react all fuel and a catalyst that is strong enough to make it happen quickly. The compressing causes it to build more pressure making the explosion more powerful.

the easiest one I know of for a civilian to make would be diesel fuel in a fertilizer. On mythbusters they used 50lbs of this mixture in a test and were tripping human lethal pressure sensors 50 yards away.

If I was personally making it, I would pack it into a a 3 gallon bucket and then place in the detonator. I'd then place it inside a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with nails. A few of these in the bed of a truck wouldn't attract any attention so long as you're careful how you wire it. And in a crowded place could cause a lot of damage and havoc. Perfect for a terrorist.

God I hope the FBI doesn't come for us. But political thriller and others do deal with terrorists and not all are content to do something hollywood.

ANFO is the most likely explosive for a homemade bomb. You could make TNT as well, but it's more difficult to produce and not much better. There are many other possible explosives, but no really interesting choices. C4 or other military explosives are probably not worth the trouble obtaining them, they're not much better than simple explosives and much harder to obtain.
Thermite is not explosive, though it will make for a very good incendiary device.

SouthernFriedJulie said:

Not hard to detonate at all.

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Not hard if you're using industrial grade ANFO and you're a demolitions expert. But we're talking about people who presumably don't have access to proper ANFO and don't have a demolitions expert to call on.

The recent Times Square attempted bombing is a good example. He tried and failed to ignite a fertilizer bomb.

Manufacture of explosives is both tricky and difficult to get right, usually leading to either total fizzles or at best a low order detonation. On the other hand, it's also a great way to blow yourself up, as generations of amateur pyrotechnicians have discovered. For this reason, many of these folks are called "stumpy", "one-eye", or "three fingers".
Why not do it the old-fashioned way: steal some blasting gel from a mine (not dynamite, it's rarely used anymore for various reasons) along with the caps and rig an improvised detonation circuit. Or lay hands on some fast smokeless powder intended for reloading through purchase or theft.