Pipe bomb - WikiHQ

thumb|A tripwire-triggered pipe bomb mock-up, used to train U.S. military service personnel.

A pipe bomb is a hand-throwable anti-personnel improvised explosive device (IED), a bomb made from a piece of pipe.

From a technical point of view, a pipe bomb is a mechanically strong containment device, filled with an explosive material, that allows pressure to build until it exceeds the strength of the container at its weakest point; the device is designed to rupture and not to fail at a specific joint, thus resulting in a catastrophic destruction of the container, usually followed by the ejection of sharp shrapnels moving at high speed in all directions.

It has been used primarily by violent non-state actors]]

The construction characteristics of a pipe bomb – like the characteristics of any improvised explosive device – are determined by the materials, technical knowledge, and inventiveness available to its manufacturer. These factors make it impossible to exhaustively list all the possible variants of this device. However, it is possible to highlight three elements that are specific to all pipe bombs: an explosive charge, a pipe, and an initiator.

Usually the explosive charge consists of a low explosive of low or medium power: smokeless powder obtained from small arms cartridges (pistols or rifles); black powder; flash powder obtained from fireworks; cheddites (i.e. explosives composed primarily of chlorates or perchlorates of potassium, sodium or ammonium); etc. More rarely, the explosive charge can consist of a high explosive, such as dynamite. though the pipe sealing method can significantly reduce the burst pressure.

The pipe can rupture in different ways, depending on the rate of pressure rise and the ductility of the casing material.

If the pressure rise is slow, the metal can deform until the walls become thin and a hole is formed, causing a loud report from the gas release, but no shrapnel.
A rapid rate of pressure rise will cause the metal to shatter into fragments, which are pushed outward in all directions by the expanding gases.

Modes of failure

Premature detonation is a hazard of attempting to construct any homemade bomb. The materials and methods used with pipe bombs often result in unintentional detonation, usually resulting in serious injury or death to the assembler.

Pipe bombs can fail to explode if the gas pressure buildup is too slow, resulting in bleed-out through the detonator ignition hole. Insufficiently tight threading can also bleed gas pressure through the threads faster than the chemical reaction pressure can rise.

They can also fail if the pipe is fully sealed and the chemical reaction triggered, but the total pressure buildup from the chemicals is insufficient to exceed the casing strength; such a bomb inevitably fails to trigger, but is still potentially dangerous if handled, since an external shock could trigger rupture of the statically pressurized casing.

Minimum evacuation distances

If any type of bomb is suspected, typical recommendations are to keep all people at a minimum evacuation distance until authorized bomb disposal personnel arrive. For a pipe bomb, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommends a minimum of 21 m (70 ft), and an outdoors distance of 259 m (850 ft).

Uses

Pipe bombs were adopted and used successfully by some regular armed forces, for example during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and World War II (1939–1945). During the First World War, among the hand grenades supplied to the Italian infantry, there was a pipe bomb called "hand-held piece" (); during the Second World War, training for the Home Guard, the auxiliary force of the British Army, also included the production and use of pipe bombs. However, they have also been used by Irish republican paramilitaries and by anti-drugs vigilante group Republican Action Against Drugs. They are also used extensively in the south of Ireland by feuding criminals, including drug dealers, mainly in the capital city of Dublin.

As well as users such as criminals, paramilitaries, and militias, they also have a long tradition of recreational use for amusement or mischief with no intention to cause injury to anyone, but due to the dangers of premature ignition and of shrapnel, pipe bombs are much more dangerous than alternatives, such as dry ice bombs or potato cannons.

Notable incidents

thumb|This 1886 engraving was the most widely reproduced image of the [[Haymarket riots. It inaccurately shows Fielden speaking, the pipe bomb exploding, and the rioting beginning simultaneously.]]

On 4 May 1886, a pipe bomb was thrown during a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It reached a police line and exploded, killing policeman Mathias J. Degan.
On 16 December 1989, Federal Judge Robert Vance was assassinated in his home in Mountain Brook, Alabama when he opened a package that contained a pipe bomb mailed by Walter Leroy Moody in Mountain Brook, Alabama.
On 27 July 1996, Eric Rudolph used a pipe bomb in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It killed two people and injured 111.
During the preparation of the Columbine High School massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had experimented with pipe bombs. During their testing and experimentation, Eric Harris had posted their results on his website. During the massacre, Harris and Klebold had used their pipe bombs as makeshift hand grenades, alongside various other bombs they had crudely manufactured.
On 11 December 2010 a suicide bomber detonated one out of six pipe bombs close to a major shopping district in Stockholm, Sweden, killing himself with no other casualties in what is known as the 2010 Stockholm bombings.
In October 2018, pipe bombs without triggering devices were sent to various liberal and political figures in the United States. Recipients included political activist and investor George Soros, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, and former attorney general Eric Holder.
On 6 January 2021, a pipe bomb was found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, during the certification of President-elect Joe Biden. An unidentified object was also found at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, resulting in an evacuation. These findings are likely connected to the riot that day. A suspect was arrested in December 2025.

References

External links

–Apparatus and method for disarming pipe bombs.