Chapter 13

FORENSIC 
INVESTIGATION OF 
EXPLOSIONS

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­1
 Explosions
Definition: 
Explosives are substances 
that undergo a rapid 
oxidation reaction with the 
production of large 
quantities of gases. 

• The sudden buildup of gas 
pressure produces the 
explosion. 
• The speed in which 
explosives decompose  
classifies them as either 
low or high explosives.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­2
 Low Explosive
• Most commonly used low­
explosive: 
black powder  
smokeless powder 
• Black powder ­
a mixture of potassium or 
sodium nitrate, charcoal, 
and sulfur.
• Smokeless powder ­
nitrated cotton 
(nitrocellulose) or 
nitroglycerin and 
nitrocellulose.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­3
 Other Explosives
High explosives 
Primary are ultra­
sensitive to heat, shock, 
or friction and provide 
the major ingredients 
found in blasting caps or 
primers used to detonate 
other explosives.
• Secondary explosives 
(commercial, military, 
RDX) are insensitive to 
heat, shock, or friction 
and burn rather than 
detonate if ignited in 
small quantities in the 
open air.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­4
 High Explosives
• Nitroglycerin­based dynamite 
has been replaced in the 
industrial explosive market by 
ammonium nitrate–based 
explosives (i.e., water gels, 
emulsions, and ANFO 
explosives). 
• Secondary explosives must be 
detonated by a primary 
explosive.
• Accessibility of military high 
explosives outside the U.S. to 
terrorist organizations to 
make homemade bombs. 
• RDX is the most powerful 
military explosives, aka 
plastic C­4.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­5
 High Explosives
• Triacetone triperoxide 
(TATP) is a homemade 
explosive that has been 
used by terrorist 
organizations.
• TATP can be made by 
combining acetone and 
peroxide in the presence 
of an acid.
• Its existence has led to 
the banning of most 
liquids on commercial 
aircraft.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­6
 Collection and Analysis
• The entire bomb site must be 
systematically searched with 
great care given to recovering 
any trace of a detonating 
mechanism or any other item 
foreign to the explosion site. 
• Objects located at or near the 
origin of the explosion must be 
collected for laboratory 
examination.
• Often a crater is located at the 
origin and loose soil and other 
debris must be preserved from its 
interior for  laboratory analysis. 
• One approach for screening 
objects for the presence of 
explosive residues in the field or 
laboratory is the ion mobility 
spectrometer (IMS).

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­7
 Collection and Analysis
• Preliminary identification of an 
explosive residue using the IMS 
can be made by noting the time 
it takes the explosive to move 
through a tube.  A confirmatory 
test must follow.    
• All materials collected for the 
examination by the laboratory 
must be placed in sealed air­
tight containers and labeled with 
all pertinent information.
• Debris and articles collected 
from different areas are to be 
packaged in separate air­tight 
containers.
• It has been demonstrated that 
some explosives can diffuse 
through plastic and contaminate 
nearby containers.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­8
 Back at the Lab
Debris collected at explosion 
scenes  are inspected with a 
 microscope for 
unconsumed explosive 
particles. 
• Recovered debris may be 
rinsed with organic 
solvents  
• color spot tests, thin­layer 
chromatography gas 
chromatography–mass 
spectrometry.
• Identification of 
unexploded materials IR­
spectrophotometry or X­
ray diffraction.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­9
 X­ray Diffraction
• X­ray diffraction is applied to 
the study of solid, crystalline 
materials. 
• As the X­rays penetrate the 
crystal, a portion of the beam is 
reflected by each of the atomic 
planes. 
• As the reflected beams leave the 
crystal’s planes, they combine 
with one another to form a 
series of light and dark bands 
known as a diffraction pattern. 
• Every compound is known to 
produce its own unique 
diffraction pattern, thus giving 
analysts a means for 
“fingerprinting” crystalline 
compounds.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­10
 Home­grown Terrorism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=­2449575330029419184#
KWTV­ Oklahoma City Bombing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=m6qMXpoE8Hs

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­11
 Military suspends outdoor weapons
testing at Picatinny Arsenal
• by Jonathan Casiano/The Star­Ledger Saturday April 12, 
2008, 2:55 PM
A day after an errant artillery fragment crashed
through the roof of a Jefferson Township
home, the Army announced today that it was
suspending outdoor weapons testing at
Picatinny Arsenal until further notice.
In this case, Army personnel were using
explosive charges to detonate a 15-pound
Comp B explosive.as part of a research and
development exercise, Picatinny spokesman
Peter Rowland said. The exercise was
conducted 8 times on Friday, April 11, 2008.
Scientific estimates had indicated that fragments
from the explosion would travel no further
than 400 meters. However, the fragment that
landed inside the Angle home traveled some
1,800 meters.
Between 2 and 3 p.m. Friday, a two pound hunk of
artillery crashed through the roof of Cheryl
Angle's home on Longwood Lake Road in the
Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township. The
hot metal landed on her 10-year-old
daughter's bed and injured the family cat. The
cat was later euthanized because of its
injuries. Angle's daughter, Cassandra, was
not home at the time.
Ironically, the Army says the accident occurred while it was
testing safer way to dispose of unwanted artillery
shells.

FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL

An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­12
 Follow­up 2012
• NJ family sues over shrapnel 
that killed its cat
• April 27, 2012, 4:29 p.m. 
• JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, 
N.J. (AP) — A northern New 
Jersey family is suing the U.S. 
Army over an errant 
projectile from Picatinny 
Arsenal that crashed through 
their roof in 2008 and killed 
their cat.
• Frederick and Cheryl Angle 
filed the lawsuit Friday after 
rejecting a settlement offer of 
$7,400.
FORENSIC SCIENCE PRENTICE HALL
An Introduction ©2008 Pearson Education, Inc.
By Richard Saferstein Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 13­13