Liquid threat

What are liquid explosives?

Nitroglycerin is one of the most powerful high explosives in the same league of RDX, PETN and the plastic explosives C-4.

How are they made?

Nitroglycerin is prepared by combining glycerin with nitric and sulfuric acids. The mix is highly unstable and needs to be mixed at a right temperature. The final product is particularly dangerous in an aircraft because of the pressure condition at high altitude that it flies.

How do they work?

When high explosives burn a pressure greater than the surrounding atmospheric pressure is created, known as ‘overpressure’. An overpressure of just 2% could break the windows of the aeroplane, and 10% would wreck the aircraft and possibly kill the people in it before it reached the ground.

How destructive is a liquid bomb?

While a large amount is needed to blow a building, any small explosion at high altitude can blow up an aircraft. This is because of the pressure differences inside and outside when an aircraft flies at an high altitude.

Was liquid bomb used in the past?

Liquid bombs were used in the foiled Oplan Bojinka in 1995. The operation involved an airline bombing plot combined with a plot to assassinate the Pope and crash a CIA plane.

Oplan Bojinka was prevented on January 6 and 7, 1995. Nitroglycerin, packed in 11 bottles of contact lens solution, was used even by the 9/11 attackers.