Wednesday, May 29, 2013

BOMBS - Understanding Them

"Understanding the Bombs Used at the Boston Marathon" PBS Newshour 5/28/2013

Excerpt

MILES O'BRIEN (Newshour):  We all watched the chaos of the Boston Marathon bombings with horror, but in Socorro, N.M., the raw emotion was mixed with scientific insight.

VAN ROMERO, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology:  It's really almost schizophrenic, I think, from my standpoint is, part of my brain is going into analysis mode, what -- that white smoke, what does that mean?  I started looking for broken windows.  Where is the pattern of broken windows from the video that I saw?

Because that tells me where the pressure wave went and how big the pressure wave was.  Is there a crater?  So, all that analytical stuff is going through your brain.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Van Romero is the vice president of research at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, which operates the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, the most active explosives testing facility in the U.S.

Name a terror bombing, Marine barracks in Beirut, Khobar Towers, Oklahoma City, the first attack on the World Trade Center, the London transit bombings.  In each case, investigators have come here to test their notions of what happened to build a court case and find new ways to defend against future attacks.

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