1. Explosions

2. Explosions ARSON AND EXPLOSION
Explosives: substances that undergo a rapid oxidation reaction with the production of large quantities of gases.
A sudden buildup of gas pressure determines the nature of the explosion.
The speed at which explosives decompose permits their classification as high or low explosives.
ARSON AND EXPLOSION

3. Low uses Black or Smokeless powder:
Black powder is a mixture of potassium or sodium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
Smokeless powder consists of nitrated cotton (nitrocellulose) or nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose.

4. High Explosions ARSON AND EXPLOSION Primary and Secondary:
Primary explosives are ultrasensitive to heat, shock, or friction and provide the major ingredients found in blasting caps or primers used to detonate other explosives.
Secondary explosives are relatively insensitive to heat, shock, or friction and will normally burn rather than detonate if ignited in small quantities in the open air.
This group comprises the majority of commercial and military blasting, such as dynamite, TNT, PETN, and RDX.
ARSON AND EXPLOSION

5. The Explosive Market ARSON AND EXPLOSION
In recent years, nitroglycerin-based dynamite has all but disappeared from the industrial explosive market and has been replaced by ammonium nitrate-based explosives (i.e., water gels, emulsions, and ANFO explosives).
In many countries outside the United States, the accessibility of military high explosives to terrorist organizations makes them very common constituents of homemade bombs.
RDX is the most popular and powerful of the military explosives, often encountered in the form of pliable plastic known as C-4.
ARSON AND EXPLOSION

6. Collection and Analysis
Items collected:
Loose soil from the crater for analysis for chemicals
Foreign items not belonging to the scene
Trace of detonating mechanism
Objects can be screened in the field by the ion mobility spectrometer (IMS).
ARSON AND EXPLOSION

7. Collection and Analysis
Collection and Storage:
All materials collected must be placed in sealed air-tight containers.
Debris and articles collected from different areas are to be packaged in separate air-tight containers.
Some explosives can diffuse through plastic and contaminate nearby containers so containers should be glass.
ARSON AND EXPLOSION

8. Back at the Lab ARSON AND EXPLOSION
Debris collected at explosion scenes will be examined with a microscope.
Recovered debris may also be thoroughly rinsed with organic solvents and analyzed by
color spot tests
thin-layer chromatography
high-performance liquid chromatography
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Confirmatory identification tests may be performed on unexploded materials by either infrared spectrophotometry or X-ray diffraction.
ARSON AND EXPLOSION