Acetone Peroxide
I'm starting to understand why airport security are asking passengers to discard certain cosmetics and household items. Acetone Peroxide is easy to make and does not require any chemistry skills. It's made from nail polish remover, hydrogen peroxide disinfectant, and uses "any kind of acid" - including citric acid - as a catalyst. It's suspected that Acetone Peroxide was used in the 7 July 2005 London bombings since victims reported a "sour smell" which sounds similar to Acetone Peroxide's "distinctive acrid smell". It does not strain credibility at all to imagine that another group of London bombers thought they could sneak some nail polish remover, disinfectant, lemons, and a disposable camera onto a plane.
I'm not defending all new crazy aviation security practices - most of them seem pretty stupid - but it's important to know what the concern actually is so that you can criticize people who are not addressing that concern. For instance I don't see any reason why asthma inhalers or lipstick needs to be confiscated, and although Mentadent contains peroxide I'm dubious that a whole tube - or several tubes - could be used to synthesize enough Acetone Peroxide to blow up a plane. It also seems pretty pointless to have National Guardsmen hanging around LAX, unless it's to help control rioters who are fed up with airport security.
Disclaimer: I'm not a chemist, so I'm making what appear to be reasonable guesses and speculation. If you *are* a chemist I'd love to know what you think about this.
I'm not defending all new crazy aviation security practices - most of them seem pretty stupid - but it's important to know what the concern actually is so that you can criticize people who are not addressing that concern. For instance I don't see any reason why asthma inhalers or lipstick needs to be confiscated, and although Mentadent contains peroxide I'm dubious that a whole tube - or several tubes - could be used to synthesize enough Acetone Peroxide to blow up a plane. It also seems pretty pointless to have National Guardsmen hanging around LAX, unless it's to help control rioters who are fed up with airport security.
Disclaimer: I'm not a chemist, so I'm making what appear to be reasonable guesses and speculation. If you *are* a chemist I'd love to know what you think about this.