Well, it looks like the recent pressure cooker bombs in NY and NJ were made with tannerite.

How is that even possible?

Tannerite is not flammable. It is ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder. That's it.

Now, I won't put it past the media to build this up and for a law to be passed that limits my ability to purchase... But this could just be how he got the ammonium nitrate for a bomb.

I'm gonna go ahead and be "that guy" but seeing all the tannerite videos on YouTube, I can't believe you can walk into academy or your feed store and buy the stuff.

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I'm gonna go ahead and be "that guy" but seeing all the tannerite videos on YouTube, I can't believe you can walk into academy or your feed store and buy the stuff.

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I guess there are some people in this crazy world who think the same thing about guns and ammo...

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I'm gonna go ahead and be "that guy" but seeing all the tannerite videos on YouTube, I can't believe you can walk into academy or your feed store and buy the stuff.

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America is great isn't it? God I love this place.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool, but having once had to mail home a plastic Pirates of the Caribbean pistol with an orange tip that said Jack Sparrow catch phrases because the TSA at the Orlando airport wouldn't allow it on the plane; and, having to wait for the pharmacist's hours to buy sudafed because I may use it in a bad way, how on earth does tannerite escape the safety patrol this long?

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Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool, but having once had to mail home a plastic Pirates of the Caribbean pistol with an orange tip that said Jack Sparrow catch phrases because the TSA at the Orlando airport wouldn't allow it on the plane; and, having to wait for the pharmacist's hours to buy sudafed because I may use it in a bad way, how on earth does tannerite escape the safety patrol this long?

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They wouldn't allow the toy gun in the carry on. Not on the plane.

I love tannerite, but it's living on borrowed time. There's no lobby to protect it.

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Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool, but having once had to mail home a plastic Pirates of the Caribbean pistol with an orange tip that said Jack Sparrow catch phrases because the TSA at the Orlando airport wouldn't allow it on the plane; and, having to wait for the pharmacist's hours to buy sudafed because I may use it in a bad way, how on earth does tannerite escape the safety patrol this long?

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I've wondered the same thing for a long time. I think it's great that we can buy it so readily but it's a matter of time until it gets pulled from the market or tracked like sudafed.

Here's a quick fact for ya'll, Tannerite was never used in those pressure cookers! That's something the media made up to get everyone rallied against! Never ever believe what you hear in the news anymore!

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I love tannerite, but it's living on borrowed time. There's no lobby to protect it.

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FYI, if they specifically ban "tannerite" then you can use the instant cold packs one finds in Walgreens or CVS. If you check the ingredients, you will find that they are just bags of ammonium nitrate and a water pouch. It's what I use and is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying actual tannerite from academy, and then you don't have to go to the feed store to buy it.

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How is that even possible?

Tannerite is not flammable. It is ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder. That's it.

Now, I won't put it past the media to build this up and for a law to be passed that limits my ability to purchase... But this could just be how he got the ammonium nitrate for a bomb.

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I'm not searching "tannerite pressure cooker bomb" on the interweb or googlefuing that term because you just know the FBI/NSA is going to track that stuff, but...

I'm just guessing that the cell phone is being used as a timer or receiving a call and sending an small current via a wire to a detonator (would an Estes rocket igniter work? IDK) inside the pressure cooker. It cant be that hard. This guy was an idiot as evidenced by the fact he used his own damn phone with his own contact info and his own fingerprints on it and got caught in less than a day. I mean he's not exactly a genius level terrorist. And he managed to pull it off.

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I'm not searching "tannerite pressure cooker bomb" on the interweb or googlefuing that term because you just know the FBI/NSA is going to track that stuff, but...

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If you believe snowden this thread has already been flagged......

The detonator would have to be kinetic or very high temperature (no typical fire/fuse/electricity ignites it) if it was truly Tannerite.

If you make a more traditional ammonium nitrate explosive (in which case, it really wasn't the Tannerite that was dangerous per se, but rather the widely commercially available ammonium nitrate mixed with any fuel source). Many primary explosives could be used, with most of them being highly unstsble and/or difficult to make (Lead Azide, Mercury Fulminate, HMTD, etc)

I trust my knowledge of the compound over the media's often shoddy reporting/investigative work. I still fully expect much tighter regulations on the individual components in the near future. And now I'm probably on a watch list too.

Tannerite Amirite?

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I'm not searching "tannerite pressure cooker bomb" on the interweb or googlefuing that term because you just know the FBI/NSA is going to track that stuff, but...

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If you believe snowden this thread has already been flagged......

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Well while we have their attention we might as well ask them to look into MfBarnes. That guy was a real socio.

I thought buying large quantities of it has been monitored by the ATF since Oklahoma City, since that is what they used there.

Cold packs and fertilizer are two easy ways to get it. the powered aluminum is a bit harder, and will probably be the thing monitored.

I took at least a half dozen - if not more - chemistry classes at A&M and made straight A's and can't follow any of this conversation.

Do you mean I can blow up my lawnmower by shooting my kids' "boo boo bunny"?

You can order dark aluminum powder online, just don't order it with any other ingredients. A buddy of mine blew up his junked out old car with that and something else, I can't recall what the other ingredient was. It was louder than any tannerite that we ever blew up.

He and his brother in law (good ol country boys) made a slight larger version of the one we used on his car. They set it off in their trash pit five miles outside of town and someone in town called the sheriff to report an explosion.

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I thought buying large quantities of it has been monitored by the ATF since Oklahoma City, since that is what they used there.

Cold packs and fertilizer are two easy ways to get it. the powered aluminum is a bit harder, and will probably be the thing monitored.

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Large quantities are already monitored, but as mentioned, there are ways around it. Fertilizer is an easy way and is concentrated enough to explode when contained.

I haven't read into these much, but since they detonated while the robot was messing with it, I assume he used one of the highly unstable primary explosives that I mentioned. Some of them explode if dropped onto a hard surface from more than a few inches and make a sweating stick of dynamite look downright stable. You need something of that power to set off the AN mixture since it can't be set off with a blasting cap, etc.

Powdered aluminum is not the only fuel that can be used unfortunately. No. 2 heating oil (red diesel) for your home (diesel fuel from the pump) is also a very common additive. This is used in a lot of commercial applications, but can also be used in high quantities in IEDs, etc. You only need about 5-6% fuel mixed with ammonium nitrate actually due to it's great oxidizing properties (especially for how cheap it is). Until they start limiting all of the potential fuel sources, you'll still end up with these things happening.

More likely I imagine they start monitoring smaller amounts and require ID for tracking (similar to sudafed)- anything above a bag or two of fertilizer will require a special permit and have strict storage requirements.

Not at all. It takes a very controlled set of circumstances for these things to be set off. Additionally, AN absorbs water from the humidity in the air and can turn to liquid. This quality is one reason it is a popular way to carry nitrogen into the soil - it just absorbs water and soaks into the ground. This is also why any time you leave a bag of fertilizer open it just turns into a solid block in your shed. This absorption lowers it's oxidation qualities in an explosive.

Without a combined fuel source of at least 6% of the AN volume, ignition, and reasonable confinement, you won't get a boom. No worries with your lawn.

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I thought buying large quantities of it has been monitored by the ATF since Oklahoma City, since that is what they used there.

Cold packs and fertilizer are two easy ways to get it. the powered aluminum is a bit harder, and will probably be the thing monitored.

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I'm 99% sure that the fertilizer is the ingredient more heavily monitored. Aluminum powder is used as an additive in a lot of paint mixtures. Your local paint store might have some in stock, I know I've seen it at the Sherwin Williams near where I live before.