BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion

[Kamaji]

That is complete bullshit. So you are one of those that thinks people can only get an education and learn to critically think in a formal school environment.

Negative.

Wow.  That is so full of false accusations and strawman arguments that it deserves nothing other than derision.

/snicker

[Wingnut]

Nonsense.  He would have been asked to keep his experiments in the school labs, not in his parents' kitchen.

In your world, however, terrorists with homemade IEDs would never get caught.

Man I thought you were a free thinker.  Man you fooled me. 

[DB]

Wow.  That is so full of false accusations and strawman arguments that it deserves nothing other than derision.

/snicker

You're the one who said it had to be done in a school. Not me. Snicker all you want.

[Kamaji]

Man I thought you were a free thinker.  Man you fooled me. 

Seriously?

Why?  Because I'm curious why the cops and the school didn't investigate to find out whether this "kid" was up to something more nefarious than just 20-something hijinks?

I'm not saying he was a terrorist; I'm saying that questions should be asked and satisfactory answers obtained.

Maybe if he'd just been black - then we'd be all over that sh*t, right?

[Elderberry]

As of Tuesday morning, the resident is not expected to face charges, according to police, but once the investigation is closed, it will be overviewed by the prosecutor to determine if charges will be filed. 

[Elderberry]

The 22-year-old student of Brigham Young University (BYU) had around five pounds of the homemade rocket fuel brewing on his dormitory stove Sunday when the mixture suddenly exploded into a massive “fireball” at around 4:30 p.m., the campus police said.

The extensive damage caused by the explosion was estimated to be about $75,000, the fire department said. Although nobody was in serious harm, Long said the situation was no laughing matter.

Long also does not believe the student had any suspicious or criminal motives behind making homemade rocket fuel in his dorm kitchen.

“It doesn’t look like there was anything nefarious in this,” Long reportedly added. “I think it was just a curiosity thing.”

[verga]

Back around 77-78 we were allowed to make Nitrogen Triiodide (SP?) The Chemistry teacher gave us the keys to the Chemical storage cabinet and told us to have at it.
This stuff was supposedly so sensitive that it would go off from fly landing on it when it was dry.

[Kamaji]

Back around 77-78 we were allowed to make Nitrogen Triiodide (SP?) The Chemistry teacher gave us the keys to the Chemical storage cabinet and told us to have at it.
This stuff was supposedly so sensitive that it would go off from fly landing on it when it was dry.

That stuff's pretty sensitive:

To highlight the sensitivity of the compound, it is usually detonated by touching it with a feather but even the slightest air current, laser light, or other movement can cause detonation.

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_triiodide

[Elderberry]

I made many a batch of NI₃.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.

[Kamaji]

I made many a batch of NI₃.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.

[Smokin Joe]

It's a bit of a jump between the ability to manage risk and blowing up your dorm room. Surely, there's a middle ground. (And don't call me Shirley).

Yep. should have done this in a fume hood up in the chemistry dept...

Reality? At least he wasn't making TATP and blowing up a guy with a backpack at on a Park Bench in Norman OK (after being denied access to the game)...

http://projects.oudaily.com/missingallthesigns/

[verga]

I made many a batch of NI₃.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.

 

[Elderberry]

 

I was in High School when I started making NI₃. I would bring a batch in a pill bottle to school and give it all away on squares of paper.

It got placed on seats, in pencil sharpeners, on floors. I never set any myself. One kid rammed the whole piece of paper into the wood shop door latch and made sure the steel door was left open. When that class started and  the shop teacher shut the door, the blast blew the door back open.  The whole school was hopping for a day.