Re electronics/initiators: There’s levels of sophistication that I’m not gonna go into on a public message board. [sub]There’s some info in this thread that’s true and public (thanks, Innerwebs), but there’s also some farfetched stuff. But, I digress.[/sub]
No, C4 is not that easy to get ahold of, mainly due to physical security. It’s been made with additional mixtures called ‘taggants’ for years, that, even if detonated, will leave a telltale residue that I can examine to find out who made it–and thus start the paper trail to find you. And when I do find you, I get to do bad things to your house and car in pursuit of what you may have left. :eek:
C4 is pretty safe though. The term you’re looking for is “insensitive.” I’ve rucked several satchel charges and dropped them on the ground (inadvertently). On occasion, I have dropped a brick just to make a guy pee his pants. T’was fun.
Anyway, for the purposes of solving what I’m going to call a “Lost bomb,” then yep. You’re not closing a circuit, you’re just putting the cap’s bridgewire in parallel with your short circuit. So yeah, you’re okay. Anticipating the detonation though, I’d bunker the hell outta that cap–don’t want to take your foot off or frag it.
You wanna go playin’ with explosives? Go ahead. You may earn a new nickname.
Well, I am discussing a standard Hollywood bomb plot, not necessarily something that makes sense in real life. In Hollywood, the point is that the detonator is so complicated that the guy trying to defuse the bomb thinks he has succeeded in cutting the right wire, but instead of the timer stopping and thus eliminating the time pressure element (and presumably a large part of the risk of detonation, maybe just time to dispose of bomb more carefully), he has triggered the second wave to cut the time left.
Why does a Hollywood bombmaker make his bombs that way? Why use a timer, and why a sneak circuit to speed up the timer rather than just detonate the bomb if tinkered with? Good question. Hollywood doesn’t have to make sense, just increase the drama. Maybe Hollywood bombmakers like the hero to feel that “oh shit” moment before they die, rather than just dying.
PatriotGrrrl said:
Because people are [del]idiots[/del] uninformed. But if you are stuck on an island with no electronics store nearby and need to cobble together a bomb with a delayed trigger, using a watch as a timer makes some sense. Not that I watched the show.
Which is what makes it difficult to address the real world questions. I mentioned I had worked in Hollywood, trust me, reality there can get very complicated.
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I’ll give PatriotGrrrl the benefit of the doubt in applying the term ‘people’ to the people who believe Hollywood plots are a depiction of reality. Using a watch makes sense anytime if it fits the requirements of your bomb, most of which just go off when the time arrives without added drama.
PatriotGrrrl: I did say ‘GREATLY increasing the chances of…’ so I believe you. I hope you agree that increasing the complexity of a device generally increases the probability of failure.
Hmm. You are person who posts thread in manner of Nelson of the Simpsons giving his ‘Ha Ha’. This is to indicate I have been bested and humiliated. PatriotGrrrl knew something I don’t know, that there are micro-controllers available for $0.49. I don’t actually know that, I haven’t looked up the prices of micro-controllers, or know which device PatriotGrrrl was speaking of, but relative to all ways that this thread would affect me, it makes sense to believe PatriotGrrrl. PatriotGrrrl did me a favor by informing of this information. Even if it were not true, it will make me reconsider any cost/benefit analysis regarding a micro-controller, something I might not have done otherwise for a trvial matter. I am thankful to PatriotGrrrl for doing that. I stated that I was humbled, which I was by one of the reasonable definitions for that word. I was bested on the narrow question of the cost of a simple device. The cost of micro-controller according to PatriotGrrl is no more than another common device. And although not relevant to the device in question, the micro-controller is more adapable to changes in the function of the device. Also not relevant is the cost of producing a single device starting without any components, which would be greater when using a micro-controller. I am not humiliated. I am wrong about all sorts of trivial matters all the time, as is everyone I have ever met that tries to convey useful information.
The intersting part, is after acknowledging your remark, you repeated it. I don’t really understand the social system that you seem to be operating in, and am baffled by its application. What is the benefit of your actions? I write many of my posts when switching between other tasks, as part of a process of re-focusing. Do your interjections provide a similar benefit for you? Is there some way that they improve your life, or the lives of others that I do not percieve? Is that benefit simply to tied to my not understanding what you are doing? I’d appreciate it if you could fill me in.
