When an assassination must for some reason be a spectacular sight, this method should be used. It may be possible for an explosive compound to exist which would either have no detectable taste, or would taste similar to the dish to which it is added. The portion of the dish likely to be eaten *last* (say, a piece of nut in the bottom of a cake) should contain the detonator, which would consist of a microscopic piece of a material that would ignite the explosive/food mixture catalytically, perhaps on contact with stomach acid. This device could, perhaps, consist of a "delayed-coating" pill, of the form in which aspirin is sometimes made. Alternatively, no detonator pill would be included; instead, the explosive would be (this is a chemical WIBNI, I know) sensitive to detonation at first contact with whatever is served in the next course of the meal; perhaps it could be temperature-sensitive, and the next course would be hot soup.-- dsm, Jun 02 2002 Baked (!) http://www.scienceshorts.com/020319.htmI've eaten nitroglycerine myself. Didn't blow up, tho. [DrCurry, Jun 02 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] Mentos and soda http://en.wikipedia...iki/Mentos_eruption [nuclear hobo, Jul 01 2007] Effects of eaten explosives http://images.hones...242/50/22425031.jpg******EXTREMELY GRAPHIC******* [MikeD, Oct 24 2011] Beans, then?-- RayfordSteele, Jun 02 2002 Pop Rocks, anyone?-- jutta, Jun 02 2002 C-4 is edible, but it tastes rather waxy. I suppose it could be easily hidden in food that tastes waxy, or blended into a cake. When placed in a fry-pan, C-4 melts and turns into a liquid about as thick as melted Cheez Whiz.
As for a detonator, I have no idea.-- mighty_cheese, Jun 02 2002 Just saw this on the Simpsons. Some french chef was going to kill Homer with an eclaire that was filled to the exploding point with chocolate. Simpsons, ahh, what a great source of knowledge.-- barnzenen, Jun 02 2002 Pass the Salt Peter... Peter? Peter? *weeps*-- thumbwax, Jun 02 2002 there's jelly for pudding.....-- po, Jun 02 2002 C4 marzipan.-- waugsqueke, Jun 03 2002 You could just put like a small capsule of something extremely explosive when in contact with saliva. If the coating is thin enough, when the person is chewing, BANG!!! Although it may not kill, this would be quite a show.-- paranoid, Jun 10 2002 i had an idea like this once it was kind of a edible grape grenade. you would have an innocent looking grape then when you removed the stalk to explosive chemicals (preferably slow reacting ones) would start to seep towards each other, then if someone saw you you could just eat the grape and all would be solved, no explosion. it might be easier to have the stomach acid as the preventing chemical as saliva is pretty dull, and if the explosive didn't deactivate the explosion would be much mor interesting.-- talen, Dec 10 2002 Well, most of the alkaline earth metals react with acids to produce a significant amount of heat (I know; I got 2nd degree burns from a flask of magnesium dust and hydrochloric acid). Or, if you really, want some fun, take a bit of sodium or potassium in a biologically sensitive wax coating. put it in a fake nut or something; a gram is plenty. The way dissolves in the stomach and the potassium hits the acid....
well, there are videos of it here and there, but suffice it to say the results aren't pretty. Try it with the more reactive ones (cesium, rubidium) and you wouldn't even need the explosive.-- Macwarrior, Feb 03 2003 its edable and it explodes whats not to like?-- crash, Jul 01 2007 Baked - mentos and soda. [link]-- nuclear hobo, Jul 01 2007 Well, this is prebaked in a movie <name I cannot recall> where the baddies came up with an explosive that looked like water. When mixed with stomach acid, it exploded. All very creative.
Not sure what situation you'd have whereby a goodly dose of nerve agent wouldn't be "spectacular" enough.-- Custardguts, Jul 02 2007 //Creosote// ... //detonator//
An after-eight mint! (obscure Monthy Python reference)-- Ling, Jul 02 2007 [paranoid]'s annotation brought this <link> photo to mind.
WARNING **** EXTREMELY GRAPHIC****
It is the picture of a marine who attempted to crimp an electric blasting cap onto initiating wire using his teeth, with obvious results.
I have encountered this picture twice in my military career.
Once in Combat Engineer school, to reinforce the point "Don't use your teeth to crimp blasting caps", and once in Combat Medic reclass training as exempli gratia of airway obstructing facial truama which would benefit from an emergency surgical cricothyroidotomy.-- MikeD, Oct 24 2011 Couldn't you slip 'em some nitroglycerine capsules, then drive them around in the back of a Land Rover?-- TolpuddleSartre, Oct 24 2011 The concentrataion in the heart medication is not nearly high enough to detonate, even if you smack one with a hammer.-- Alterother, Oct 24 2011 [MikeD] - I find it incredible that the guy is seemingly lucid, and looking at the camera.-- Ling, Oct 24 2011 He can be doctor zoidberg for halloween. Obligatory is that photoshopped.-- rcarty, Oct 24 2011 I've found it amazing that he was conscous as well. The human body is a pretty amazing thing, though. The cranium is very sound, plus there was a lot of soft tissue to dampen the explosion. On the lower left (PTs) you can see a few teeth, but none on the right so I'm guessing he used the right side of his mouth and the impulse was mostly directed ventral and lateral. PETN is a pretty fast explosive. I think the photo is ligit.
Also, his eyes look pretty glassy. He is probably loaded to the gills on morphine. I'm suprised that his tongue eluded truama.-- MikeD, Oct 24 2011 It's not 'shopped. I've seen the same photo in a completely different context, one of my mothers medical journals, in an article discussing evolving reconstructive procedures after massive trauma. She shows me stuff like that because she knows I'm obsessed with military history (in literally every aspect, no matter how esoteric or gruesome). I'll have to go over to her house and dig through piles of literature if anyone insists on citation.
Her interest in such subject matter lies in her recent move from family practice to pro tenens work, particularly in Army ERs. She's doing a two-week stint at Leonard Wood at the moment, where she's seen as much serious trauma in the last six months than in seventeen years of general practice (obviously, she doesn't go into much more detail than that, but I'm allowed to look at case studies).-- Alterother, Oct 24 2011 //Leonard Wood//
<Stands up, removes cover and places hand over heart>
.....
<Replaces Cover and sits down>-- MikeD, Oct 24 2011 //even if you smack one with a hammer.//Well, if the nitro doesn't get 'em, the hammer surely will.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Oct 24 2011 It's a genuine picture; and remember, that was done by the tiny amount of primary explosive in a blasting cap - less than a gram.
We've seen worse. Injuries caused by putting dets in trouser pockets; injuries to lower limbs caused by dropping dets, or treading on them. One of the nastiest arose from clumsiness attaching dets to a bundle of det cord. Thankfully, in that case the poor sod didn't survive.
Consuming most explosives - apart from the tiny amounts of NG in cardiac medication - is foolish in the extreme, as most are pretty toxic.
As to the idea, it's possible, but would require a large amount of expensive R&D for no real benefit.-- 8th of 7, Oct 26 2011 [OT] What puzzles me is how you are supposed to crimp them - it an exploding one does that to your face, how do you stop it doing similar things to your hands?-- TolpuddleSartre, Oct 26 2011 A special long-handled crimping tool.
Even a few centimetres of separation make all the difference, for complex hydrodynamic reasons.-- 8th of 7, Oct 26 2011 I remember reading somewhere that black powder is an important ingredient in some old-fashioned recipies.-- zen_tom, Oct 26 2011 There's an urban myth that it's an ingredient in Kentucky Bourbon; it is used in a traditional method of checking the proof, but it is not in the whiskey itself.
I think there was one of those weird 19th-century health fads that involved ingesting black powder for some reason, but I could have it mixed up with something else.-- Alterother, Oct 26 2011 "Rum and Gunpowder", perchance ?
It tastes disgusting.-- 8th of 7, Oct 26 2011 Pistachios can spontaneously combust, and bananas contain enough potassium (of which a proportion is radioactive) to set off alarms when shipped in bulk.
So, a sufficiently large pistachio and banana sundae could act as a sort of rather slow, gentle dirty bomb.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 28 2011 //Even a few centimetres of separation make all the difference, for complex hydrodynamic reasons//
Ain't that always the way?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 28 2011 random, halfbakery