Re: [OM] no more carryons?

[andrew fildes]

>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
>

I stand corrected - gunpowder to me always means black powder - even made
my own as a rather dangerous teenager in the UK. I don't even remember the
term 'black powder' being used as something distinct and different.
AndrewF



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