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Bomb Squad Searches House Over Teenager's Chemistry Experiments
McGruber writes: On Wednesday, authorities in the south Fulton County, Georgia town of Hapeville shut down a street for hours and used their bomb squad to search a home. According to the suspect's father, the bomb scare started after his 18-year-old son was arrested for trespassing, entering an abandoned warehouse and salvaging mercury switches, which can be used to detonate explosives. When police searched the teen's home on Virginia Avenue at Rainey Avenue in Hapeville, they said they found chemicals inside. "He's not building bombs. He does do a lot of experiments. A lot of them I don't fully understand, but I'm certain he's not making bombs," said the suspect's father, Allen Mason. Mason says chemistry is his son's hobby and he wants to be a chemical engineer. Mason also said police told him what they found is not illegal to own. One neighbor, who couldn't return home for hours, said he didn't feel the teen was a threat. "I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best," said Curtis Ray. In February 2015, Hapeville authorities evacuated businesses and called out the bomb squad to investigate a pinhole camera that was part of a Georgia University Art Project.
Why??
For their entertainment value? ;-)
Here in the Boston area, we're still making jokes about the 2007 bomb scare caused by a set of "art works" (actually ads), small electronic displays hung up mostly along main streets around the city. Even the Marathon bombing didn't stop the humor surrounding the police takedown of this "art". Rather, the bombing is generally understood as a major bit of evidence that all the supposed security precautions are worthless. "They can stop street artists (or ad agencies ;-), but they can't stop actual terrorists." We also hear versions of what this story will no doubt trigger: comments to the effect that it's no surprise that the US can no longer match the technology of most 3rd-world countries; just look at what they do to a kid trying to become competent in some technical specialty. They obviously don't want us turning our kids into chemical engineers, or any other kinds of engineers. To the authorities, that stuff looks a lot like terrorism, y'know.
Stories like this are much of what led to the rise of the phrase "security theater". (If you're not familiar with it, just google it.)
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Give me any house or apartment to search and I'd be damned surprised if I couldn't find some things that could be used to create explosives.
Hell, strip the ends off an extension cord, put them in water, plug it in (may need to add a bit of salt for conductivity) and you get a nice mix of H2 and O2 bubbling off. Throw a diode in the circuit if you don't want them mixing at the electrodes (because of the AC).
A bag of flour (or better, corn starch) can take down a building if you disperse it into the air properly before lighting. If the stove or water heater or furnace is gas powered ... a cubic foot of natural gas is about equivalent to four sticks of dynamite.
And that's not even getting into the more exotic household or garden chemicals and cleaners.
"some things that could be used to create explosives" -- no shit, Sherlock.
That could've been me 40 years ago. We had a whole group of bomb makers. They all ended up as chemists/chemistry teachers or MDs; I was the odd one out with CS.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
You can buy mercury using money. Online. The kid is 18, he's not a kid.
A mercury switch operates on gravity. Tilt a package (like, say, pick it up carelessly, or rotate it to face the label up to read who sent it) to complete the circuit.
A ball bearing in a tube with contacts at the end can do exactly the same thing.
Don't you know that most explosives work via a reaction with oxygen in the air?
Actually no, most don't, unless you're talking about fuel-air explosions (which can be bloody huge!). Most solid or liquid explosives use an oxidizer that's part of the mix -- or don't use an oxidizer as such at all, but rather their rather unstable molecular configuration degenerates to a lower energy state with much release of energy and component parts (most high explosives).
-- Alastair
The GP's comment is part right and part wrong. Fluorescent lights do not pose a danger due to small quantities of mercury.
However Fluorescent lights are far more dangerous than elemental mercury found in switches as mercury is only really a risk in vapour or respirable / ingestible form. You can have an open jar of elemental mercury on your desk beside you, the same kind used in switches and it will do nothing to you. Break a CFL and you'll likely be exposed to a few microgram.
With regard to: "You can have an open jar of elemental mercury on your desk beside you, the same kind used in switches and it will do nothing to you."
It depends... Mercury does have a vapor pressure. Go ahead and google it using the terms Mercury and Vapor Pressure. One of the articles I found was on the MIT web site: http://web.mit.edu/cohengroup/.... It is possible to ingest mercury by being exposed to metallic mercury for a long period of time. I don't think a one time exposure due to broken CFL is going to harm you. On the other hand, deliberately exposing yourself to mercury just to show it is harmless makes no sense.
I hate how chemistry is now an "off-limits" hobby.
This "kid" was eighteen.
He was caught trespassing on an old industrial site scavenging for toxic chemicals. That doesn't make you the brightest bulb in the lamp.
Mercury can be purchased online without hassle.
The safety data sheets make interesting reading, so do forum posts to geeks who are in denial about the risks . Mercury Metal (quicksilver), 3X Distilled, 1/2lb
1/2lb of mercury is about 1 1/4 teaspoons.
Before you read this, let me make it entirely clear. You SHOULD NOT MESS AROUND WITH MERCURY. The only reason I have written this post is to show those who are dumb enough to try it the most proper way to do so. PLEASE DON'T DO IT! Mercury easily becomes airborne and when entered into the body will slowly kill you. It takes days for you to notice, and before you can do anything it is too late. Proper mercury disposal should be done at a recycling center, and only a recycling center.
How To Scrap Mercury, Sell Mercury, Recycle Mercury