The metaphor of Satan
The Daily Mail informs me that
The London terror gang used the same highly-volatile explosives as shoe-bomber Richard Reid, it has emerged. [...] It is often used by Al Qaeda operatives, who call it The Mother of Satan.
This is not a widely reported name. Google reports only four pages which mention both “acetone peroxide” and “mother of satan”.
However, one of those pages is from Wikipedia which explains the name thus:
Acetone peroxide (peroxyacetone, TATP, or Mother of Satan because of its instability and power) is an organic peroxide.
I’m not personally acquainted with the mother of Satan, so I cannot tell you if she really is unstable, though if her son takes after her then I could believe she’d be a woman of some power. I imagine few others will have met her, too. So the nickname seems a little speculative.
With that in mind, here are some alternative names for acetone peroxide, which also suggest instability and power, but which are less speculative:
- wobbly plug;
- dizzy dynamo;
- rickety turbine;
- electric spinning-top;
- nuclear Jenga.
Other suggestions welcome.
