Drano Bottle Bomb Warning Message (True)

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The potential threat described in the warning is real. Bottle bombs can be constructed from easily procured everyday items and chemicals, including Drano and plastic drink bottles. Moreover, teenage pranksters in many parts of the world have been making and detonating such devices for decades. The devices are also known as MacGyver bombs, acid bombs, works bombs and soda bombs.

When the drain cleaning chemical and the other substances combine, a powerful chemical reaction occurs. This chemical reaction releases a gas which can build up pressure in the plastic bottle until it explodes, spewing out an extremely hot and caustic liquid. The devices have caused a number of injuries, including serious chemical burns, eye irritation or blindness, limb and facial injuries and hearing damage.

Many of these injuries have been sustained by the young bomb makers themselves. However, a number of innocent people have also been injured by the devices, often after they picked up what they thought were just discarded drink bottles.

News reports going back decades describe many incidents involving homemade bottle bombs. Unfortunately, the Internet has given youngsters virtually instant access to detailed reports that describe exactly how to make bottle bombs using not only Drano but other commonly available ingredients as well. There are many YouTube videos that show how to make the bombs and how they subsequently explode.

One common version of the warning that is currently circulating in Australia suggests that kids in Perth, Western Australia have recently began making Drano bottle bombs. While such incidents have indeed occurred in Perth – in 2009, a 60 year old  man received hand injuries after he picked up a bottle bomb left in his letterbox – it should be noted that bottle bomb incidents have been reported in many other cities and towns both in Australia and elsewhere, not just Perth.

Some versions of the warning that are currently circulating imply that such nefarious bottle bomb antics are something new. However, as noted above, bottle bomb making has a long and sorry history. Spates of bottle bomb incidents have been reported in various locations around the world. In many cases the bombs explode or are disposed of without causing injury. Often, the homemade bombs do not go off at all.

But, the advice in the message to be cautious of plastic bottles that you may see lying around is certainly worth heeding.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Thank you for this information.

I wish I had known this when I was younger, as I used to use two liter bottles half filled with hot water, with a rubber stopper with a basketball filler needle attached to make rockets for my kids. 

You warm the bottle, and insert a cold cork with the basketball filler needle in it.  As the rubber stopper warms up, it gets bigger, and as the neck of the bottle cools down, it gets smaller.

An EXTREMELY tight fit.

We used a 12v tire inflator with a hose to pressurize the bottle  through the needle, and it would blow the stopper off and the water acted as reaction mass, sending the bottle perhaps a hundred or so feet high.

Great fun!

Never had a bottle blow up, as the compressed air always blew out the stopper before the limits of the bottle were reached, and the worst was we got sprayed with water.

One  time the bottle fell over and we almost got torpedoed.

However, with chemicals. I have seen pictures of boys with their hands blown completely off from various combinations.