Is it just me or does it confuse anyone else...
Two C-size batteries... IN a flashlight, INSIDE a bag... going through the little bomb detector thingie...
How can that blow up and hurt seven people. I guess I underestimated the power of a couple of batteries.
Incase you have no idea what im talking about
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/09/0...ent/index.html
As the report you read says, the batteries were marked positive by the machine. If you think about what a corroded battery will have, the battery acid leaking out, and the electrical charge on that acid could mimic the characteristics of an explosive device. When the machine goes through its range of processes to look for bomb characteristics that would include X-Ray, possibly MRI, and other electrical techniques it isn't unthinkable, in my mind at least, that the battery could become volatile and explode.
I just found it wierd that if the batteries were in the flash light, and the flashlight was in a bag (assuming it was still like this when it exploded), that it could have caused those people to get hurt.
I didnt realize that battery acid had that much "oomph" to it.
if the thing explodes, it could be like a pipe bomb, having the metal around it, think of it : no place for the gas to go == higher pressure ~= explosion.
there used to be something here, but not anymore
Also, with the electronics in the machine it makes sense to me that the battery exploding may have made the machine itself explode too. Although, none of the reports I read made it clear whether the entire machine blew up or not.
