Re: [OM] no more carryons?

[W. J. Liles]

andrew fildes wrote:
> 
> There's no relationship between gunpowder and TNT but lots of things will
> fool these kind of detectors. In one case the coating on playing cards is
> reputed to have caused a positive swab from a suspect's hands.
> AndrewF

Actually there is.  Both are based on nitrated organic molecules.  TNT
is tri-nitro toluene and gunpowders (not black powder) use nitro
cellulose (and sometimes a bit of nitroglycerin) as the major ingrediant
with various inhibitors to make it a propellant instead of an
explosive.  The bomb detector is tuned to detect nitrated compounds
which are not always explosive.

Jerry Liles


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