Further exercises in practical chemistry

[mdlbear]

After a little research in Wikipedia starting at ANFO, I'm beginning to suspect ammonium nitrate and nitrobenzene. There's no imaginable way anyone could make acetone peroxide inconspicuously on an airplane; either the terrorists were being incredibly stupid, or somebody in the press has failed to do their research after somebody in the government gave them bad, sketchy, or perhaps deliberately misleading information.

Comments

[mdlbear]

Somebody (probably on NPR) mentioned that one component was a reddish powder; that would fit with ammonium nitrate.

Reddish?

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I worked with ammonium nitrate. It was white, just like anything else. We used two different forms, chemically pure and fertilizer-grade prills (to use the terminology from the Wiki article).