[hennie pennie]

Anybody know anything more about the explosive?

[tiredoflaundry]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETN

[driftdiver]

A google search shows its the core explosive in det cord. it can be used as a booster so there might have been more. Its a very powerful explosive and could have cut through the aircraft skin if placed properly. In his pants its not going to be enough according to what I’ve read.

[Lurker]

PETN is a very stable and extremely powerful explosive. It won't detonate unless you use a blasting cap of some kind, but it will burn like crazy.

It looks like this mope couldn't get it to detonate properly and it caught fire. Hence the serious burns he's hopefully suffering from.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Anybody know anything more about the explosive?

'PETN was the explosive chosen by Richard Reid for his plot to blow up the Boeing 767 he was traveling in from Paris to Miami. ' -- wiki

[Zathras]

PETN is a serious explosive and requires very little mass to create a great deal of damage.

It is also fairly unstable and can detonate without using a blasting cap.

[Gorzaloon]

It should have been detected with any of the currently used aiport detectors that screen for organonitrates.

Pentraerythritol tetranitrate is used in Primacord, or blended with RDX and called Semtex. It needs a detonator.

Semtex has a detection taggant added to produce a distinctive vapor signature to aid detection. First, ethylene glycol dinitrate was used, later switched to 2,3-dinitro-2,3-dimethylbutane (3,4-dinitrohexane, DMDNB), which is used currently. According to the manufacturer, the taggant agent was voluntarily being added by 1991, years before the protocol signed became compulsory

[DoorGunner]

Just quick research. Otherwise, I know little about explosives:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaerythritol

Appearance white solid

white, crystalline polyol

dielectric fluid in transformers. Their low volatility and high flash point give them an excellent resistance to ignition

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETN

one of the most powerful high explosives known

PETN's preparation involves the nitration of pentaerythritol with a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acid. The preferred method of nitration is the ICI method, which utilizes concentrated nitric acid (98%+) alone, as mixed acid can create unstable sulfonated by-products.

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http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/109618317/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

The presence of sulphuric acid impurity decreased the thermal stability as well as the activation energy...

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Blatant speculation on my part: IF he was carrying PENTAERYTHRITOL (the white powder) and a mixture of Nitric acid and sulfuric acir (in the syringe) in an attempt to manufacture PETN on the plane; the sulfuric acid may have caused a small portion of the PETN being manufactured to become unstable... That might have set the original, as yet unmixed PENTAERYTHRITOL to burn, before it could be mixed in. SPECULATION