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Using Radio Waves to Detect Explosives
deadmantyping writes "A Japanese research group published a paper describing a method to detect explosives in luggage using radio waves. The method relies upon nitrogen nuclear quadrapole resonance (NQR) and is able to distinguish between different white powders, whereas currently used x-ray technology is not."
What if a crazy man just straps some bombs on, walks up to the security checkpoint and sets himself off? There's no security check to protect the first security check. Better add one.
...and recurse.
Demented But Determined.
A little oxidized iron, a little aluminum powder, a tiny amount of binder, press, and you have the makings of some attractive plaques or statuary. A bit of magnesium wire and a battery and you have everything you need to start a large mass of aluminum burning. Spectacularly.
Good thing none of the Bad Guys have the brains of a flatworm. Or at least, that's what our whole air travel security strategy assumes.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
And not all nitrogen containing explosives are white powders. :)
Computational Chemistry products and services.
Last time I took Sri Lankan from EU to CMB. I'm not allowed to have my swiss army knife in the cabin so I put it in my cargo luggage.
When we got our meal it came with nice metal cutlery.
On arrival I put the metal meal knife in my hand luggage and walk out of the airport.
One month later I go back to EU wondering what security would tell me checking in with one of their own knifes.
Nobody saw anything, now it's laying somewhere here around the house.
So much for regulations and security.
People using html in email should be shot.
Luggage probably does not burn very well. The suitcase and its contents are mostly fabric / leather / plastic of some type. ( think about what you packed last time... ) Most clothing has passed some kind of won't-sustain-combustion test, and that in the presence of lots of oxygen at or near sea level. Leather won't sustain a fire on its own. Plastics, who knows? But few are highly exothermic.
And add to that the fact that there is not a whole lot of air available in the luggage container - it's mostly luggage. Even if there is enough fuel to sustain a low-temp fire, it soon suffocates itself. The only jet that has crashed in the last few decades due to a cargo fire was because there was an oxygen tank in the luggage.
Also, according to federal law, all luggage compartments on commercial airliners are required to have fire-resistant walls.