:smack: Funny how you see what you expect to see. These bombs are usually made with base, water, & aluminum.
If they did use a strong acid, (and toilet cleaner nicked from McDonald’s is more likely to be an acid cleaner than the domestic sort) that ought to produce enough hydrogen gas to achieve a similar effect. Except (I think) the reaction wouldn’t produce enough heat to make the bottle soften. I’d expect this to pop the cap off and soak the ceiling. If it didn’t, I guess it might explode more forcefully than a typical Dran-o bomb?
I just looked in my cabinet-o’-vile-chemicals. My bottle of Kroger generic household toilet bowl cleaner contains “Hydrogen chloride 9.55%.” That’s hydrochloric acid, if my tiny knowledge of chemistry is holding out.
In my neighborhood, a few years ago, a handful of teenage sons of local politicos made up a gaggle of chemical pop-bottle bombs and placed them around the house of a local political figure from the other party. They got caught, and then there was a battle between local politicians over whether to sweep it under the rug or hang the kids as terrorists. It was ugly, and I don’t know if they ever got it settled. :rolleyes:
