3 ms·

Most people 1) wouldn't google that, and 2) wouldn't immediately connect fertilizer to nitrogen or realize from the phrase that nitrogen is one of the key com

• dogma1138 8y ago
  People don’t need to google it was just to show that fertilizer bomb is a common phrase on the news you can also add nitrogen and bombs and get the same results. News, movies and tv shows covered nitrogen and fertilizer bombs extensively since essentially all the bomb related terrorist attacks in the US used these. And again this isn’t about most people this is about a columnist for Popular Mechanics and pop-sci publication they should know better and if they don’t they at least should do research.
  • pwg 8y ago
    Except that the news always covers it as a "fertilizer bomb" or "fuel oil and fertilizer bomb" without ever going into the details that nitrogen is one of the elements that has a significant play in the explosiveness of the "fertilizer bomb". And the vast majority of those watching/reading the news, and seeing "fertilizer bomb" as the "name" are not chemists and have zero chemistry background, and therefore are not at all equipped to make the connection that it is the nitrogen in the fertilizer that provides much of the explosive punch of the "fertilizer bomb". At best all they will ever learn is that "fuel oil and fertilizer" can be used to make a bomb, without ever understanding why this combination is explosive.