[El Gato]

The student’s father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said the FBI has told him the bomb was made of concentrated hydrogen peroxide. Experts said explosives made with this common household disinfectant are highly unstable.

Hydrogen peroxide is not explosive. It is however a "precursor" used in the production of the actual explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP).

But this is AP, can' expect them to set the father's misconceptions straight for it's readers. In looking up the name, I found out that an Israeli professor (chemistry) developed a pen shaped hand held detector for the stuff, almost 4 years ago!

[popdonnelly]

"I found out that an Israeli professor (chemistry) developed a pen shaped hand held detector for the stuff, almost 4 years ago!"

And it probably costs about fifty cents and could be readily available to security staff everywhere.

[El Gato]

Forgot the link to the article about the TATP detector

http://www.worldpress.org/article_model.cfm?article_id=2153&dont=yes