DETROIT, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- The alleged Northwest airline bomber's lack of knowledge about the chemistry of his explosives may have averted a disaster in American skies, experts say. The chemical powder in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's explosive and the liquid in the syringe, meant to set it off, had a slim chance of causing a successful detonation, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday. One expert thinks whoever planned the attack lacked sufficient knowledge of the chemistry of the substances involved.