Acid Bomb

[snopes]

Dangerous Incident - Acid Bomb

I would like to relay to everyone an incident that occurred at my home
this past Saturday night. My husband and I were sitting with 2 friends in
our dining room, which is at the front of our house right next to the
front entryway. The lights were on in our dining room, but off outside. At
approximately 10:30 pm, there was a very loud pounding knock at our front
door. My friend got up to answer the door, but I told him not to. I have a
general rule in our house that we do not answer the front door at night
unless we are expecting someone. I went ahead and turned on the outside
lights to look outside, and then there was a loud explosion directly
outside our front door. We then heard a car speed away. When we opened the
front door, we found an exploded Gatorade bottle, and I immediately
smelled strong acid. Our front door and outside entry area were covered
with the acid.

We called Plano Police, and they also sent out a CSI unit. The officers
were clearly disgusted by the incident. They said that they have seen
increasing numbers of these "acid bombs", or another version which uses
chlorine. Typically though, these have been put in mailboxes or on parked
cars. This was the first incident that they knew off where the bomb was
used with a clear intent to inflict physical harm on people. It was
completely obvious we were at home - clearly visible right in the front of
our house in the dining room. The knock at the door was to summon someone
to answer it. The police told us that the recipes for these bombs are
readily available on the Internet, using easily available ingredients of a
common acid and aluminum foil to produce the reaction. The reaction is
very predictable, with the explosion occurring about 20-30 seconds after
adding the aluminum foil. They said the force of the explosion is near
equivalent to that of a grenade, but without the shrapnel. I cannot bear
to think of the harm that would have been inflicted on our friend should
he have opened the door prior to the explosion.

The police say they are having a very difficult time catching those who
are setting off these bombs. They get fingerprints, but unless someone has
a prior arrest, or they actually catch someone who matches the prints,
this evidence is of no use. It is suspected that it is likely teenagers.
We do not know if somehow our family was specifically targeted - which is
a chilling thought - however, to me, the idea of someone willing to
inflict such physical harm on people randomly is almost more twisted. The
police think it was likely random - that our house was just chosen because
we were obviously home and we also have a corner house which facilitated
the getaway.

The police asked us to pass this information around to as many people in
the community to raise awareness of this and other similar incidents. Be
vigilant, please report any suspicious behavior, and be careful when
opening your door.

Sue Bagen

[Towknie]

And here I thought an acid bomb would be something like dropping a tab of LSD into a glass of beer and chugging the whole thing down.

There is apparently an actual police report out of Plano on this desribing the most recent incident on July 7th. I can't wait until the emails from concerned neighbors start showing up.

Upon further investigation, here is the actual police report from the Plano Police Department website.

[RichardM]

We know a Sue Bagen. Wonder if it is her? And further more, the acid used is usually vinegar, not exactly hazardous.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by RichardM

. . . the acid used is usually vinegar, not exactly hazardous.

The term "acid bomb" is very poorly chosen. You might as well call them "atom bombs," since the chemicals in them are all made of atoms.

This said, one should not minimize the threat of vinegar/baking soda or dry ice explosions in sealed two-liter bottles. The concussion isn't all that profound -- loud and scary, but not much more violent than the bursting by hand of a paper bag -- but the shrapnel from the fragmenting bottle is easily enough to penetrate the skin.

As a traditionalist, I recommend a return to paper bags filled with dog poop...

Silas

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

The term "acid bomb" is very poorly chosen. You might as well call them "atom bombs," since the chemicals in them are all made of atoms.

This said, one should not minimize the threat of vinegar/baking soda or dry ice explosions in sealed two-liter bottles. The concussion isn't all that profound -- loud and scary, but not much more violent than the bursting by hand of a paper bag -- but the shrapnel from the fragmenting bottle is easily enough to penetrate the skin.

The OP describes the bombs as containing "common acid and aluminum foil"(Al). Since it contained Al it probably did not contain vinegar as the acid since vinegar is too weak to do much to Al. Much more likely that it would be Muriatic Acid (concentrated hydrochloric acid), a very strong acid. You can buy Muriatic Acid at most hardware stores for a buck or two a gallon. Muriatic acid plus Al gnerates hydrogen gas at high enough pressure to rupture a plastic soda bottle. When the bottle ruptures it'll spray the muriatic acid all over the place. Muriatic acid is highly corrosive and will burn skin, cause blindness and all sorts of other nasty things.

A baking soda + vinegar bomb generates carbon dioxide gas that may be at high enough pressure to rupture a plastic bottle. Vinegar is much less hazardous than Muriatic Acid so the spray from a vinegar bomb is really not all that hazardous since it is just vinegar.

Originally Posted by Towknie

And here I thought an acid bomb would be something like dropping a tab of LSD into a glass of beer and chugging the whole thing down.

I was thinking it was a type of bomb you would leave in a crowded public place that would cause everybody within 100 feet to trip balls for the rest of the day.