Time bomb

For other uses, see Time bomb (disambiguation).

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 including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination and warfare.

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

Year	Event	Location	Perpetrator(s)	Deaths	Injuries	Comments
1871	Attack on the Mosel (ship)	Bremerhaven	Alexander Keith, Jr.	80	unkn.	bomb set for insurance fraud purposes; detonated prematurely
1910	Los Angeles Times bombing	Los Angeles	John J. McNamara and James B. McNamara	21	100	Union-related action
1916	Preparedness Day Bombing	San Francisco	Labor leaders	10	40	Isolationist political action
1920	Wall Street bombing	New York City	Anarchists (suspected)	38	400	Followed other bombings in 1919
1939	Bürgerbräukeller	Munich	Georg Elser	7	63	Assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler
1942	St Nazaire Raid	St Nazaire, France (wartime)	Royal Navy, British Commandos	590	unkn.	To damage port facilities being used by enemy forces
1944	July Plot	Wolf's Lair, Poland (wartime)	German Resistance	4	?	Failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler
1955	United Airlines Flight 629	over Longmont, Colorado, USA	Jack Gilbert Graham	44	0	Murder; insurance fraud
1972	Aldershot Bombing	Aldershot, UK	IRA	7	18	A 280 lb time bomb in a car
1974	M62 Coach Bombing	West Yorkshire	IRA	12	38	Continuing anti-British campaign
1974	Birmingham pub bombings	Birmingham, UK	IRA (suspected)	21	182	Continuing anti-British campaign
1974	Guildford pub bombings	Guildford, UK	IRA	5	65	Targeted against Army personnel
1977	Lucona sinking	Indian Ocean	Udo Proksch	6	0	Attempted insurance fraud
1984	Brighton hotel bombing	Brighton, UK	IRA	5	31	Attempt to assassinate PM Margaret Thatcher
1987	Korean Air Flight 858	Andaman Sea	North Korea	115 (all)	0	State terrorism against South Korea
1987	Remembrance Day bombing	Enniskillen, Northern Ireland	IRA	12	63	Continuing anti-British campaign
1988	Pan Am flight 103	Above Lockerbie, Scotland	Libya	270	0	Reprisal against UK & US
1989	Deal barracks bombing	Deal, Kent, UK	IRA	11	21	Targeted against military personnel
1994	Philippine Airlines Flight 434	Between Cebu and Tokyo	Ramzi Yousef	1	10	Foiled attempt.
1996	Centennial Olympic Park bombing	Atlanta, Georgia, USA	Eric Rudolph	1	111	Politically-motivated anti-abortionist; occurred during 1996 Summer Olympics.
1998	Omagh bombing	Omagh, Northern Ireland	IRA	29	220	Worst single incident loss of life during the anti-British campaign.
1999	Russian apartment bombings	Buynaksk Moscow Volgodonsk	unkn.	293	651	4 bombs over 4 days; purpose unknown.
2006	Moscow market bombing	Moscow	Racialist organization	13	46	Racially motivated attack

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, Dave Matthews Band, 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