Posted on 03/01/2013 1:12:36 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
WALTHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- A 23-year-old security guard at Waltham High School was arrested after he was accused of stealing flammable chemicals from the school’s chemistry storage room.
Investigators say the guard stole iron powder, aluminum powder, wires and an emergency battery normally used to jumpstart a car from a chemistry closet. These chemicals can be used to make a bomb.
Police said Holland admitted to stealing the items from the school’s chemistry room and he knew the items could make a bomb, but he only wanted to throw them in a fire pit to see what would happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.whdh.com ...
They do not make “a bomb”, they make thermite.
The school district doesn’t employ their own security personnel?
What’s his name on myobama.com?
Guess he found out. There go his dreams of a career in law enforcement.
I can buy his “campfire” story with the iron and aluminum, but he wanted to throw the car battery and wires in the fire, too?
Bingo!
(and someone is having a meltdown over it...)
Still, I can't agree with stealing.
He was a grown up security employee. That was dumb and stupid.
Now, when I was a high school student in the seventies, oh boy, the things that happened to me (cough).
How did they get a car in the chemical closet to begin with?
...the ole’ fire pit excuse...yeap - I wonder how many other chem labs are seeing “stolen items & materials” around the nation???
Now, if the idiot reporter meant "iron oxide powder", particularly "black iron oxide powder", i.e. Fe3O4, well, that would be a different story. Thermite (as you correctly note) in the hands of amateurs is remarkably hazardous. Worse still if the thief had the (half-)wit to also swipe some glycerin and potassium permanganate for a fuse.
This is just another effort (sic) by a scientific illiterate, as well as another instance of incompetent editing by his/her alleged editor.
You can also order it off the net.
Though it can be made to explode with ice, they’re straining credulity to argue it’d be an effective bomb. This article is fear mongering.
Exactly. My first thought when I heard about it on the radio.
As my wife and I are wont to say when confronted by such fools, "I know how he votes".
This is exactly the problem with not letting kids have M-80s. If, as a kid, one can explore small explosions, it usually ends the curiosity well before adulthood.
> ...but he only wanted to throw them in a fire pit to see what would happen.
As my wife and I are wont to say when confronted by such fools, “I know how he votes”.
Low brow Obama supporter no doubt. I wonder if he really believes the detectives bought that...lol
Remember that forest ranger in AZ/NM a while back? She wanted to see what would happen when a fire pit was left, ahem, "unattended".
She thought she would get accolades for reporting the resulting forest fire. Her career came to a screeching halt.
He must have seen “Breaking Bad” season 1.
That stuff melted an impenetrable locked metal door.
That’s what I was wondering.
The easy way to ignite it is with magnesium fuse. Very stable and reliable. I knew one individual who made “thermite art” castings, since it was a lot cheaper than buying a hot oven and gave different, if not better results than compressed gases.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.