# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/61 "2016-06-30T20:25:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > As for my reference to _The Peacemaker_ - I was mistaken in calling it a fusion bomb. On rechecking, it was just a plutonium-based fission bomb. My point about beating on it with a crowbar still stands, however. Dude, they DID beat it with a crowbar. Your point is illustrated in the film itself, to dramatic effect. Unless we’re thinking of a different _The Peacemaker_ with a different George Clooney. Either that or we have different ideas about what sort of beating should have been delivered. ---
**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 30, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/62 "2016-06-30T21:33:10Z")
I mean immediately. It’s been years since I saw that stupid movie, but didn’t they waste a whole bunch of time trying to figure out some way for Nicole Kidman to earn her keep? When all they had to do was whack it a bunch of times? It’s been so long, and I’ve been so altered, it’s hard to keep it all straight. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/63 "2016-06-30T21:36:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But, in the case of a small bomb like [this](https://nootropicdesign.com/defusableclock/images/defusableClock_02.jpg) (you know, it is surprisingly difficult to find a picture of a simple bomb, hence this clock photo) . You’ll likely find yourself on a list or get a visit for googling that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/64 "2016-06-30T21:54:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > . . . [Blasting caps.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasting_cap) . . . won’t go off if you drop them. The big risk is accidentally putting current through them, such as from static discharge . . . Interesting. This puts a new angle on some family lore. My dad knew a guy who died when a handful of blasting caps detonated…in his pants pocket. The assumption had always been that he fell, and the impact set them off. But a pants pocket is a decent place to work up a static electrical charge, and that may be the actual explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/65 "2016-06-30T22:36:35Z")
Seeing the blasting cap doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re home free. A bomb could well have multiple caps in it. It could even have a dummy cap, that’s actually just a loop of wire attached to a continuity tester. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/66 "2016-06-30T23:19:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Interesting. This puts a new angle on some family lore. My dad knew a guy who died when a handful of blasting caps detonated…in his pants pocket. The assumption had always been that he fell, and the impact set them off. But a pants pocket is a decent place to work up a static electrical charge, and that may be the actual explanation. Blasting caps are set off by shock, not electricity. The impact from falling angle sounds reasonable. Someone will find a Darwin Award to prove me wrong, it’s doubtful that anyone who had access to blasting caps would be ignorant enough to carry them around in his pocket, much less fall upon them with sufficient energy to detonate them. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/67 "2016-06-30T23:32:54Z")
A much simpler (but less foolproof) method than overpresduring a package is to simply put the bomb in a light-proof container with a photocell attached to a trigger. Unless you open the package in the dark, it blows as soon as you open it. ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/68 "2016-07-01T02:26:09Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It’s all what you intend to do, as the bomb maker. If you truly want to make the bomb so it is absolutely impossible to be disarmed, you make it that the entire mechanism, including explosive, is encased in a sealed box. Then you make the inside have an air pressure that is either higher or lower than atmospheric, and have a switch that closes when the pressure changes. Any action to open the bomb case, including even drilling a spy hole, with equalize the pressure and set off the bomb. > > There is no way to know what the internal pressure is, so an intrepid bomb disposal expert can’t simple place the bomb in a chamber where the pressure can be raised or lowered, because he won’t know which way to go. Foolproof! Also, very difficult to create, but hey, Hollywood shows us that genius maniac bomb makers are everywhere. This premise is used in the aforementioned MacGyver triple-bomb episode. The trigger that kills the acquaintance is that the chamber is a vacuum, and breaking the seal makes some powder blow around inside, which somehow sets it off, but not before he yells to Mac, “It’s a vacuum!!” Boom. [This clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4vA5clOWE) of that episode is after the commercial break that followed the part I just described. Apparently, the powder is phosphorous. Color me dubious about the physics involved in getting the powder out of the chamber. Feel free to explain how he’s actually right about popping the cork to get a suction in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/69 "2016-07-01T21:00:51Z")
> [@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. Damn, that was great. And the reactions afterward were pretty realistic (and in character). I love it when a cliche gets lampshaded, but my standards are really high. So thanks for posting that. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/70 "2016-07-01T21:46:24Z")
> [@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. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I hope to God the Russians can’t fit fusion bombs in suitcases! Not to worry. The baggage handlers a LaGuardia would toss it around and render it inoperable. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/71 "2016-07-01T22:49:44Z")
Most of those movie bombs don’t have anything on this one: > **[Harvey's Resort Hotel bombing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombing)** > > The Harvey's Resort Hotel bombing took place on August 26–27, 1980, when several men masquerading as photocopier deliverers planted an elaborately booby trapped bomb containing 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of dynamite at Harvey's Resort Hotel (now "Harveys") in Stateline, Nevada, United States. After an attempt to disarm the bomb, it exploded, causing extensive damage to the hotel but no injuries or deaths. The total cost of the damage was estimated to be around $18 million. John Birges Sr. was co John ... Even with over 24 hours of planning - they were unable to successfully disable it. It was extremely well designed; try to unscrew it - it would go off Drill a hole in it - there were layers of foil and non metallic elements that would make contact and it would go off Fill it with water - it would go off Use a shape charge - which is what they tried - and well - it went off and took five stories of the hotel with it It was the largest domestic bombing before the first WTC attack - and to my knowledge is the most advanced bomb (by countermeasure complexity) ever encountered by law enforcement - certainly in the US > **[In August 1980 Someone Planted a Giant Bomb in a Nevada Casino. Here’s What...](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/08/harveys-wagon-wheel-bombing-the-bizarre-but-true-story-of-a-crime-gone-wrong.html)** > > This article is excerpted from “A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite,” the newest single from the Atavist. > > It was about 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1980,... ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/72 "2016-07-01T23:29:53Z")
Director James Cameron is known for being very intelligent and a stickler for detail and avoiding movie cliches. When he had to present the classic ‘red wire/green wire’ bomb defusing scene in _The Abyss_ he did at least add a little something extra by having the Navy SEAL who is giving the disarming instructions say, “You must cut the ground wire, \*not \*the lead wire”. Probably still doesn’t matter, but hay, it was something at least. Plus he added the great (and realistic) twist that right before the scene Ed Harris’ character (who’s defusing the bomb underwater) lost his electric light and was now using a cyalume chemical glowstick. They give off greenish light, so when the SEAL told him, “Cut the black wire with the yellow stripe, not the blue wire with the white stripe” it presented him with a real problem\*!\* ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/73 "2016-07-02T00:25:30Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Even with over 24 hours of planning - they were unable to successfully disable it. > > It was extremely well designed; > > try to unscrew it - it would go off > Drill a hole in it - there were layers of foil and non metallic elements that would make contact and it would go off > Fill it with water - it would go off > Use a shape charge - which is what they tried - and well - it went off and took five stories of the hotel with it > … psssst… see the link from **beowulff** in post #25 for a very long in-depth read of this story. I often wonder if modern kinetic attacks that use water would have succeeded. They tried to decapitate the bomb using a shaped charge, which likely set off the explosive without need of the other bomb parts. If this were done with these various devices that slice bits off with explosive-driven water instead, perhaps they might have been successful. But it sure was a diabolical device. So many different tripwires built in. Few bombers are that thorough, and of the ones who try to get fancy, a certain number blow themselves up. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/74 "2016-07-02T00:47:10Z")
In the season open of Sherlock, season 3, John and Sherlock are trapped in an Underground car loaded with explosives. right under Parliament. John’s freaking out, begging Sherlock to disarm the thing. Sherlock reaches over and flips off a switch. “There’s an “Off” switch. There’s always an Off switch. Terrorist can get in all sorts of problems unless there’s an Off switch.” StG ---
**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:** [July 2, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/75 "2016-07-02T01:19:31Z")
I, as a Junior Pyrotechnician, was inspired by the ads during Cubs Rainout Theater to find the blasting caps I was told were everywhere in the suburban construction sites around me. I was disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/76 "2016-07-02T02:16:47Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I, as a Junior Pyrotechnician, was inspired by the ads during Cubs Rainout Theater to find the blasting caps I was told were everywhere in the suburban construction sites around me. I was disappointed. I have a friend who as a child was deafened by hitting a blasting cap with a hammer. His dad was working on a tunnel and brought him down one day. StG ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/77 "2016-07-02T11:13:18Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > **Blasting caps are set off by shock, not electricity.** The impact from falling angle sounds reasonable. Someone will find a Darwin Award to prove me wrong, it’s doubtful that anyone who had access to blasting caps would be ignorant enough to carry them around in his pocket, much less fall upon them with sufficient energy to detonate them. Bolding mine. There are all kinds of blasting caps: Electric, non-electric, with delays, with booster charges and without. A google for “types of blasting caps” will suffice. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/78 "2016-07-02T15:03:28Z")
I always laugh at bomb wire cutting scenes - anyone with electronics knowledge could quickly determine which wire to cut, then cut it. And wire colors MEAN NOTHING in the real world with something like this. People building these could choose to use any particular wire colors they wanted - there would not be a “standard” as such! And the opposite for movie alarm system “jumper wire to bypass” scenes. They are just NOT going to be able to do that on many alarm systems. Also many alarm company employees do not understand how the electronics work in alarms, let alone a burglar. For some complex alarm systems, there may be only one or two employees at an alarm company who would have the knowledge to fix it when it breaks. Most of the employees don’t have a clue. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/79 "2016-07-02T19:57:47Z")
Yeah, it would make sense for a bomb-maker to use different wire colors, for the same reason it makes sense for anyone else: It makes it easier to keep track of what you’re doing. But there’s no reason for the bomb-maker to use the same wire colors as anyone else. Maybe, just maybe, if you find enough bombs that you suspect were all made by the same person, you might be able to assume the coloring is consistent… but that’s a pretty big if. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738/80 "2016-07-03T15:39:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, it would make sense for a bomb-maker to use different wire colors, for the same reason it makes sense for anyone else: It makes it easier to keep track of what you’re doing. But there’s no reason for the bomb-maker to use the same wire colors as anyone else. Maybe, just maybe, if you find enough bombs that you suspect were all made by the same person, you might be able to assume the coloring is consistent… but that’s a pretty big if. Or it’s a mass produced bomb. Most bombs in the world are made for either the military, and as such, are pretty standardized. The scene upthread from _The Abyss_ was like that - the bomb was an American warhead, and they had a military guy who’d been sent specifically to secure it, so of course he knew all the technical details on disarming it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-just-pull-the-detonator/758738.md?page=5)