Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

OMG, it's on the news now, first I've seen or heard of this today ( locked away at work )they are playing it down a bit as a ( not so dirty ) dirty bomb :shrug: surely it still is a chemical bomb so therefore "dirty" when \ not if we ( uk ) get hit I wonder how much loss there will be, and what will be done about it.

On a side note now, going back to Russ's echelon thread, I wonder if and how many of us posters are \ have been picked up on and are being checked out now as we speak ???

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

I'm surprised at how easy it is to obtain this stuff, let alone order it.

All it took was a Google.

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

The thing is, there are literally thousands of hazardous chemicals that can be bought "over the counter" or can be made up by anyone with a reasonable knowlege of chemistry.

I'm sure it would be possible to make the system "safer" by requiring information to be kept on each sale, but only at the cost of crippling businesses with tons more paperwork.

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

Also (unless you're on Planet Neocon, where canvas sided trucks make first class weapons laboratories), the threat of poison bombs falls primarily on the person making it. Amateurs rapidly become dead amateurs in those circumstances, and the nastier the chemical, the more likely the amateur is to snuff it. A virtuous circle in fact.

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

we used to make an explosive at school - very dangerous, as, when dry, it would go off, if a fly landed on it. We actually did get it to work, once, on a teachers board rubber - very small quantity, but it made a decent noise plus purple fumes :)

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

Hmm, I was thinking "ammonium tri-iodide" but the purple fumes suggests a potassium based compound.

Either way the stuff is sodding dangerous as it will go off if someone so much as looks at it the wrong way!!

Re: Osmium tetroxide
 

No, ammonium tri-iodide does generate purple fumes - from the iodine vapour that is released. Been there! Done it!