The Blotter Appears To Have It Wrong

There's an interesting element inside the investigation into the two men arrested in South Carolina. The Blotter appears to have it wrong on a couple of counts and FBI Lab results may lead to the proving or undoing of the model rocket theory:

In the vehicle, investigators say they found potassium chlorate and sugar, which when combined with a catalyst create what has been dubbed "instant fire" releasing heat, flames and smoke in a spectacular fashion. As a result, they are used in making fireworks and as a fuel for model rockets.

Wrong, apparently. That might be Potassium Nitrate, or even Potassium Perchlorate, when mixed with sugar. But as you'll see here, scroll down for warning: Do not use sucrose-based propellants in these engines, an explosion will result -- potassium chlorate, particularly when mixed with sugar, is expressly not recommended for common model rocket engines for fear of a serious explosion.

Chlorate-based propellants are more efficient than traditional gunpowder and are less susceptible to damage by water. However, they can be extremely unstable in the presence of sulfur and are much more expensive. Chlorate propellants must be used only in equipment designed for them; failure to follow this precaution is a common source of accidents.

And, remember, Ahmed Mohamed, here only since January and chanting in court today, is a graduate student in Civil Engineering. He should know the difference.

If you search the news items for potassium chlorate, you get few hits, but here's one. It was big news in Scotland recently.

The bomb-making tips could have been gleaned from Arabic websites which gave details of how to make gas cylinders explode.

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that potassium chlorate from household matches formed a key ingredient of the detonators.

You can find a discussion of this and video links at this comment. The blotter also said:

the driver, who said he was a hydro-engineering major at South Florida University, told a deputy he was carrying explosives.

No, he said "fireworks." And while this may yet not pan out to be a major event, the devil is more in the details than some may like to think.

Comments

[Purple Avenger]

FWIW, the material in some matches can be used to manufacture expedient primers and/or recharge spent primers. Duncan Long covered this his book "Homemade Ammo" ISBN 0-87364-816-1 published by Paladin

[crosspatch]

I am still giving these guys the benefit of the doubt unless something is learned from that computer. I don't see how, even if those tubes contained something as dangerous as C4 could do much damage considering the small quantity we are talking about ... and the tiny pop it made when detonated.

People seem pretty eager to build mountains here and I don't really blame them considering all the background chatter we have about potential terrorist attacks this fall. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[nowingker]

We need to take this guy's parents into custody too.

VERY SUSPICIOUS that he lives with his parents in FLorida and they--get this--they let the FBI search the house voluntarily and gave them the keys!!!!!!!!!!

Good god, who knows what they have in that house! More sugar! Arabic writings! A Palestinian flag! Another lap top! A map of the college he goes to!

Oh the horror. But don't worry, wingers, these guys lives are already ruined. And PS, the photos you nuts keep talking about how they are 'smiling' are not their mug shot photos. Gawd but you are dumb and so mean.

Tata nutters.

[Fred Beloit]

Wow, nowinkie, you must have gotten a bonus of lots of riyals for your tireless work here yesterday as Sherlock Holmes clearing a simple case by your penetrating logic or better Perry Mason defending innocent "kids" by playing on the emotions of the jury. However, the authorities in the real world are still at work and will have the final say.

[Fred Beloit]

"But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." writes crosspatch.

Not to a certain former President, who now pontificates on the evils of Fox News and the editorial pages of the WSJ.

[charles]

"Tata nutters"

one could only hope

looks like it's getting an early start today, you've got to "admire" that type of work ethic

[Purple Avenger]

"I am still giving these guys the benefit of the doubt...even if those tubes contained something as dangerous as C4"

Read 27CFR. Specifically the sections on "destructive devices" and the ATF paperwork and requirements needed to own, store, and transport them.

[templar knight]

"looks like it's getting an early start today, you've got to admire that type of work ethic."

charles, liberals never think it work to slander, libel, lie and propagandize against conservatives and the military.

[seekeronos]

As the Great Gipper once said... "Trust, but verify".

The presumption of innocence is a bedrock of our system of jurisprudence. Let the police and the FBI investigate the matter fully, before we jump to conclusions based on observed evidence - or commentary thereof.

I suspect these guys might not have been up to any good, but let's see if there really is enough rope for these guys to hang themselves with.

[BadIdeaGuy]

It sounds like the chemicals in the trunk are victims of chemical profiling!

[nowingker]

Homeland Security Department Director Michael Chertoff praised South Carolina authorities on Tuesday for arresting two Middle Eastern men accused of having an explosive device.

"Whatever turns out to be the case with these two individuals, it underscores the importance of people being alert," Chertoff said at the University of South Carolina, where he demonstrated a program employers can use to check the legal status of workers. "Even if it turns out this is benign, if it turns out not to be a big deal, this is the kind of alertness and response that creates real homeland security for this state as well as the country."

------------------------

Now, I wonder why Chertoff is bringin up words like 'benign' and 'not a big deal'....could it be that the FBI guy on site who said there was no bomb just home made fireworks/rocket material was right?

Dry your tears little wingers, you can still believe that it was a dry run, those arabs are so crafty, who would have thought their dry run would entail speeding, and then having to act just suspicious enough that the officer would want to search their trunk? Crafty, crafty a-rabs.

ROFL!

[bloodrage bob]

sadly, the children who once attended beslan school are unavailable for comment on this latest incident of arabs/islamopigs being accused of nefarious things.

[nowingker]

Are these guys suspected in the Beslan attack?

I didn't know that, otherwise, bringing it up would be kind of a straw man, irrelevant non sequeter.

Oh wait, this is Riehl World, that's the only kind of response wingers know how to formulate.

[templar knight]

You're doing a lot of commenting, nowanker, for one with so much egg on his face. Oh, yeah, we can't see your face. Thank God for that. Nonetheless, your credibility is somewhat higher, but not much, than whale poop in the Mariana's Trench. So your trick is to show us what is accurate by taking the exact opposite position. Novel.

[bloodrage bob]

did i just read the foulmouthed hysterical CAIR mouthpiece accuse ME of a strawman argument??

how deliciously ironic. as a wise chap posted earlier, "a key component of the islamic/liberal/totalitarian mindset is the inability to feel shame". this is, of course, merely *one* reason why people like that are viewed with such contempt by *real* americans.

[nowingker]

We know Bob, 'real' Americans want to kill and torture arabs and put the Democrats in prison, well, and kill some of them as well, just like you do.

If you are really, really lucky there will be another terrorist attack and Bush will declare martial law and those Americans like me will be where we deserve to be...in prison as traitors.

[Rich Casebolt]

No, we don't want to put Democrats and you in prison.

We just want your foolishness exposed for all to see ... in particular, the foolishness of confusing erudition and education with wisdom.

That foolishness helped create the problems we face today ... and I for one don't want to see it repeated.

Especially repeated in attempts by the citizens of Woodstock Nation to guarantee the "rights" to get high/get drunk/get laid/get a free Band-Aid(TM)/get a check/just get by without taking responsibility, by taking others' right to get ahead ... and by undermining the security that protects our rights to life and liberty.

We want you to get the (dis)credit you and your ilk deserve.

That is all.

[nowingker]

No, we don't want to put Democrats and you in prison.
----------------------------------------------

I wonder then why you are always wishing to charge people with treason, like Nancy Pelosi, the retired generals who criticized Iraq war planning, Cindy Sheehan.

It seems to me, that calling people traitors and saying they should be thrown in prison, poisoned, executed, etc. is a good indicator that you WANT to, well, put them in prison or kill them. I guess that's just me. I guess calling people traitors, calling for their arrest and incarceration is what you guys call 'political discourse'

I've recently been called a member of Al Quaeda on this blog, that pretty much says it all.

[Fred Beloit]

"I've recently been called a member of Al Quaeda on this blog, that pretty much says it all." writes winkie.

Don't flatter yourself, winkie, you couldn't make it in al Qaeda. They are a bit more than simply a propaganda organ.

[SmokeVanThorn]

This is my first visit to riehlworldview. I'm already sick of nowingker's obtuseness. How do you guys stand it?

[Fred Beloit]

Stand it, Smoke? Personally, I live almost for it, because winkie represents the best the Left has got.

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