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Sorry, my preference was engineering calculus and physics.  First confrontation with chemistry was at college level, I still don't understand how my classmates survived my lab experiments!

I got a passing grade though, more likely to prevent me from spending any additional time in the lab.

Thanks Page for elaboration on the chemical formula. Apparently well known by terror groups and the anti-terror units in Israel, UK and western world. Who mixed the ingredients? From general available knowledge of Triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, the investigation could NOT point a finger towards Al Qaida!

"Although made with easily obtainable ingredients, the explosive is also very unstable and will explode from contact with a cigarette or an electrical discharge. Keinan noted that Palestinian terrorists have been known to make the explosive in their own apartment buildings."

BREAKING NEWS -
ARREST IN EGYPT OF MISSING CHEMISTRY TEACHER

PS I was in Amsterdam yesterday at my friend's place: Brasserie De Joffers.
Best American hamburger in town - code word for conversation: City of Creve Coeur Missouri.

USA WELCOME: Make Yourself Known @BooMan Tribune and add some cheers!

'Sapere aude'

I went to a tech school that had a fair number of chemists and pyro's. Some folks at my wife's dorm would make cafeteria trays full of something they called acetone peroxide (most likely a less technical name for the same stuff we are discussing) and make large bangs or blow traffic cones into the air with it by applying an electric charge. This was mostly pre-9/11. The university started cracking down on explosions and fires after one got out of control. My understanding (I was not involved) was that it was volatile, but pretty easy to make.