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popsci_2013 00004.txt

#Remote Bomb Detector Uses Sound waves To Distinguish Between Types Of Explosives#A new type of bomb detection can sniff out how powerful an explosive#is from afar. Devised by researchers at Vanderbilt University Purdue University and the Colorado School Of mines it uses a laser vibrometer and a sonic beam to identify how the bomb's casing vibrates. From the patterns of the vibrations the researchers can tell whether the homemade explosives inside are high-yield or low-yield. Bomb-sniffing dogs and many of their mechanical equivalents need to be close enough to smell (or detect molecules of)# an explosive. That requires getting a teensy bit closer to a potentially ticking bomb than most people really want. Acoustic detection has a greater range allowing explosives to be identified from a safer distance. In testing this system could distinguish between high-yield and low-yield type materials (they used an inert crystal and polymer material to simulate a live explosive in the lab) and identical plastic containers filled with air water or a clay material.##The technique developed as part of a grant from the Office of Naval Research was presented yesterday at the American Society of Mechanical engineers Dynamic Systems and Control Conference o

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