# Why not just pull the detonator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738 "2016-06-29T22:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/1 "2016-06-29T22:02:42Z")
You know the scene. The clock’s ticking down, and the bomb will go off. our sweaty hero has to decide whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire. Or is it the green wire? Close-up on the block of C4 with the detonator sticking into it… Why bother with cutting wires? Why not just remove the detonator? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/2 "2016-06-29T22:14:11Z")
Because it’s a movie time bomb (we know this because it has a visible countdown timer). Movie time bombs can only be stopped by cutting a wire. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/3 "2016-06-29T22:16:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because it’s a movie time bomb Even given that it’s a movie, I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen a character just pull the detonator out of the explosive. It should have occurred to someone. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/4 "2016-06-29T22:17:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because it’s a movie time bomb (we know this because it has a visible countdown timer). Movie time bombs can only be stopped by cutting a wire. And it has to be the _right_ wire. Because if you cut the wrong wire it will explode, because… that’s just the way bombs work! If you watched enough movies you would know that. And the colors of the wires must be _very_ important for some reason, otherwise any half competent bad guy would use the same color wires in order to foil the good guy. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/5 "2016-06-29T22:25:14Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > And it has to be the _right_ wire. Because if you cut the wrong wire it will explode, because… that’s just the way bombs work! If you watched enough movies you would know that. And the colors of the wires must be _very_ important for some reason, otherwise any half competent bad guy would use the same color wires in order to foil the good guy. There must be a Standard Movie Bomb Bad-guy Wiring Table somewhere. Sort of like the color code for resistors. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/6 "2016-06-29T22:26:42Z")
I liked how in Lethal Weapon 3, Riggs cut the wrong wire. “Roger… GRAB THE CAT!” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/7 "2016-06-29T22:28:55Z")
_The Peacemaker_ was one of the most blatant offenders. Besides having Nicole Kidman portray a nuclear specialist, neither she nor Clooney can remember that a fusion bomb has to work perfectly to work at all. They have 5 minutes or so to defuse a Russian suitcase nuke, and neither of them thinks to clip the wires leading to the initiating explosives, which are wrong as well. Hell, they could have just beat on the thing with a crowbar for 5 minutes and it would have been reduced to junk without detonating. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/8 "2016-06-29T22:32:32Z")
I’m not disputing the overall inaccuracy of the movie (which I don’t think I’ve even seen) but don’t fusion bombs have fission triggers and wouldn’t just the trigger going off be bad enough? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/9 "2016-06-29T22:44:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You know the scene. The clock’s ticking down, and the bomb will go off. our sweaty hero has to decide whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire. Or is it the green wire? Close-up on the block of C4 with the detonator sticking into it… > > Why bother with cutting wires? Why not just remove the detonator? Presumably it might be designed to go off if you do that. > [@davidm](#): > > And it has to be the _right_ wire. Because if you cut the wrong wire it will explode, because… that’s just the way bombs work! Well in real life, it might explode because the wire was put there as a decoy. > [@davidm](#): > > I’m not disputing the overall inaccuracy of the movie (which I don’t think I’ve even seen) but don’t fusion bombs have fission triggers and wouldn’t just the trigger going off be bad enough? The fission component also requires precision to work properly. Damaging the conventional explosives will prevent a nuclear explosion - but it won’t prevent the conventional explosives from blasting everything and everyone nearby with shrapnel and radioactive material. If you disable a nuke that way, you’d best do so from far away. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/10 "2016-06-29T22:51:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because it’s a movie time bomb (we know this because it has a visible countdown timer)…\ Also, we can here it beep as it counts down. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/11 "2016-06-29T22:52:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Even given that it’s a movie, I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen a character just pull the detonator out of the explosive. It should have occurred to someone. [Here you go.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-gpx5GVXWI) \*Castle \*may not have been the smartest show on TV, not by a long shot, but it had its moments. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/12 "2016-06-29T22:54:31Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I’m not disputing the overall inaccuracy of the movie (which I don’t think I’ve even seen) but don’t fusion bombs have fission triggers and wouldn’t just the trigger going off be bad enough? He’s right, but slightly wrong. I thought it was a purely fission bomb. Here is the best image I can find from the movie: [Le Bombe](http://klipd.com/screenshots/de2f98b787977affd795391b39fc0ffe-2.jpg) The soccer-ball looking thing is supposed to be the physics package. A sphere of plutonium surrounded by high explosive shaped charges. At this point in the movie, they had access to the core. There were no more security devices. All they had to do was cut even one wire to the explosives, and the bomb would never create a complete fission reaction. You might (might!) get some local fissioning, but the yield would be low. I still wouldn’t want to stand near it! The problem is, the high energy explosives would blow plutonium all over, rendering that area of Manhattan uninhabitable for quite some time. They forgot that fact. IN an episode of CSI:NY, Mac finds a small block of C4 with a blasting cap and a cell phone detonator. Instead of calmly removing the detonator from the C4 , rendering the bomb harmless, he runs like a panicked schoolgirl and gets caught in the explosion. That one really pissed me off for inaccuracy. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/13 "2016-06-29T23:23:32Z")
Does anyone in real life even use time bombs? I would think that they’d mostly use cellphone detonators, or maybe motion detectors or proximity switches. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/14 "2016-06-29T23:29:09Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _The Peacemaker_ was one of the most blatant offenders. Besides having Nicole Kidman portray a nuclear specialist, neither she nor Clooney can remember that a fusion bomb has to work perfectly to work at all. They have 5 minutes or so to defuse a Russian suitcase nuke, and neither of them thinks to clip the wires leading to the initiating explosives, which are wrong as well. Hell, they could have just beat on the thing with a crowbar for 5 minutes and it would have been reduced to junk without detonating. I hope to God the Russians can’t fit fusion bombs in suitcases! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/15 "2016-06-29T23:50:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Even given that it’s a movie, I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen a character just pull the detonator out of the explosive. It should have occurred to someone. > [@Alessan](#): > > [Here you go.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-gpx5GVXWI) \*Castle \*may not have been the smartest show on TV, not by a long shot, but it had its moments. I recall an earlier example, an episode of _Knight Rider_ where, I believe, Devon and the female guest of the week were chained to something, across the room from a ticking time bomb. Michael enters with seconds to go, runs over and pulls the detonator out of the clump of C4. Easy-peasy. In the _Castle_ example, one can see wires running to packets of what is likely supposed to be plastic explosive. I’d have immediately started by pulling those loose. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/16 "2016-06-29T23:57:17Z")
There’s a reason why bomb disposal experts, given the opportunity, don’t defuse bombs–they just blow them up. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/17 "2016-06-30T00:00:51Z")
Don’t real bomb teams have robots on tracks with TV cameras and shotguns? The first time I saw one was thirty years ago! You aim for the electronics and shoot. Might work better if the robot has a water hose. Wet electronics no worked. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/18 "2016-06-30T00:08:32Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Don’t real bomb teams have robots on tracks with TV cameras and shotguns? The first time I saw one was thirty years ago! You aim for the electronics and shoot. Might work better if the robot has a water hose. Wet electronics no worked. Wet electronics eventually no work because it causes short circuits. Do you really want to cause a short across the timing mechanism connecting the detonator directly to the power source? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/19 "2016-06-30T00:09:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You know the scene. The clock’s ticking down, and the bomb will go off. our sweaty hero has to decide whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire. Or is it the green wire? Close-up on the block of C4 with the detonator sticking into it… > > Why bother with cutting wires? Why not just remove the detonator? Ah, but do you remove the red detonator, the blue detonator or the green detonator? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/20 "2016-06-30T00:15:33Z")
Depending on how sophisticated a bomb-making henchman we are talking about, the bomb would, presumably, as **Der Trihs** says, be designed in such a way as to defeat attempts at defusing it. Probably designed to go off, in fact, specifically if anyone tries to defuse it and only the bomb-maker knows the special way to neutralize it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738.md?page=2)