time bomb

A time bomb (or timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes ranging from insurance fraud to warfare to assassination; however, the most common use has been for politically motivated terrorism.

Construction

Diagram of a simple time bomb in the form of a pipe bomb

The explosive charge is the main component of any bomb, and makes up most of the size and weight of it. It is the damaging element of the bomb (along with any fragments or shrapnel the deflagration might produce with its container or neighboring objects). The explosive charge is detonated by a detonator.

A time bomb's timing mechanism may be professionally manufactured, either separately or as part of the device, or it may be improvised from an ordinary household timer such as a wind-up alarm clock, wrist watch, digital kitchen timer, or notebook computer.

Types

Types of time bombs include:

• Delay-action bomb (bombs dropped by aircraft with a delay to increase damage/disruption)
• Improvised explosive device ("home-made" bombs with a delay to allow the person placing the bomb to escape)
• Limpet mine (attached to enemy ships by naval divers)

List of some notable incidents involving time bombs

Time bombs in fiction

Time bombs are common plot devices used in action/thriller TV series, cartoons, films and video games, where the hero often escape the blast area or defuses the bomb at the last second. Many fictional time bombs are improvised, and usually involve a beeping sound with a large prominent countdown timer (on rare occasions, the timer will count up).^{[citation needed]}

Such fictional appearances include:

• Kojak, Knight Rider, MacGyver, Get Smart, Men in Black: The Series, 24, Sonic X, Hogan's Heroes, VR Troopers, and Walker, Texas Ranger on television;
• James Bond: Goldfinger, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Hindenburg, The Mask, The Peacemaker, Battle Royale, Battle Royale 2: Requiem and New Police Story in film;
• Counter-Strike, Sonic Adventure 2, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Halo, F-Zero GX, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Trauma Center: Under The Knife and Trauma Center Second Opinion in video games; and
• Songs by The Old 97's, Chumbawamba, Godsmack, The Format, Rancid, Buckcherry, The Dismemberment Plan, Faber Drive and Beck titled "Time bomb" or "Timebomb".
• The popular Super NES video game Chrono Trigger takes its name from the timer-detonator assembly of a time bomb, although the game itself has nothing to do with time bombs but with time travel instead.

See also

• Bomb disposal
• Fuse (explosives)
• Ticking time bomb scenario (hypothetical justification of torture)

References

• Wiktionary: time bomb

This article related to weaponry is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e