Kind of curious, am I the only one starring at my pressure cooker and thinking how?
Granted I am not a violent person but I had no idea my canning gear could blow anything up beyond my kitchen.
Does anyone out there know of these things?
Apparently there are websites but I don't want my IP associated with that. :)
Odd.
Marda, they are saying they were pressure cooker bombs. I had no idea they exist. I am like you, the device is made to keep in extreme pressure so why would this be a suitable container?
What the heck Aileene! Mine looks like this, http://www.amazon.com/Presto-6-Quart-Aluminum-Pressure-Co... That looks like a bomb! with a handle
I don't own O..
I was surprised to hear how commonly these are/have been used over time to make IEDs in the Middle East. Pressure cookers are a VERY common kitchen item there.
Maybe we need stricter pressure cooker legislation?
I'm on it.
There was an actual bomb IN the pressure cooker, along with pellets and nails. They didn't just blow up a stew.
When used improperly a pressure cooker can blow with just a roast in it. It's mean to hold pressure, but when it can no longer contain that pressure...kaboom, and a big one!
It's really a pipe bomb made from a kitchen appliance.
Pressure cookers used to be very dangerous kitchen appliances. My grandma had one blow up in her face before--terrible burns.
oops! my first post showed my ignorance. Here is a site that describes the bombs in Boston and a bit about how they work. I'm guessing that when the blasting cap is ignited the heat builds up pressure within the pan which causes the pan to explode and the nails inside are blasted outward. I think the pan may just be used to hold the nails or whatever is used to do damage and to create pressure so that they are blasted outward at great speed.
The pressure build up just as it does when a pan with food is heated up.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/04/16/boston_...
Since plastic box cutters nothing surprises me.
We use a presure cooker to can veggies or anything with meat in it. It's a food preserving device in our house, not something to be feared!!!! Jeez!!
ETA - anything with a good seal and strong outer walls (aka-the conventional kitchen pressure cooker) can be used to hold an explosive device. Please people, do not start trying to bain pressure cookers!!!! Just more ignorance!.....................
Don't know. Maybe this gives a slight clue.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/16/al-q...
I am surprised that pressure cookers are still around. My mother had a pressure cooker when I was a kid and I am in my mid-forties. Although we knew that you had to be very careful when using it, we still used it. I never quite understood that logic. The food made in it wasn't all that great either. With all the new kitchen gadgets and microwaves out there, I am surprised that people still use these things.
gawker dot com has an article on the front page explaining "how"
won't light up your IP, it's just an internet magazine
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btw - also explains "where" they came from (used in the world)
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I didn't write the article or pick the photo used, but I would assume that pressure cooker appearance may vary in different parts of the world.
My mother had one when we were growing up. It used to bother me. I never quite understood why she wanted to mess around with something that, if she made any mistakes, might blow up. I've never cooked with one. Or opened one. Nothing. (And I'm with the previous poster who mentioned that the food wasn't anything to write home about... so I just didn't get the logic of the risk/benefits)...
My husband bought me one for Christmas a few years ago... He liked the idea of the speed with which one could supposedly cook a chicken or whatever. The problem being that you had to actually USE the thing... and that seriously delayed the cooking of the food---because I wasn't going near it. After a few discussions, I returned it to the store.
But yes... the just use it as a container and fill it with explosives and shrapnel materials... instant pot-bomb. What's his name (from the OJ trial--Furhman) said they would hold about 10 lbs of explosives and stuff. That's a lot.
Yup just read an article from Washington Post online & AP about an online website called Inspire for would be terrorists & they had a how to in mom's kitchen back in 2010 on making a pressure cooker bomb.. Oh here is a copy n paste: "Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen gave a detailed description of how to make a bomb using a pressure cooker in a 2010 issue of Inspire, its English-language online publication aimed at would-be terrorists acting alone.
In a chapter titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom," it says "the pressurized cooker is the most effective method" for making a simple bomb, and it provides directions."
BUT the FBI says dont rush to judgement thst it was international terrirists.
I didnt know that pressure cookers could be used that way.. Sigh
Pammy
I never heard of using a pressure cooker as a bomb before this tragedy.
However, when I was a kid, my mom had a pressure cooker. My mom was cooking potatos in it and my sister's boy friend opened it before it was done and the potatos exploded all over the kitchen.
