Eric the Red

I’m not surprised with the latest airplane-based terror plot. What does surprise me is the sense that the matter is hopelessly beyond our ability to solve without longer lines and more restrictions on carry-ons.

Explosives contain certain elements in specific concentrations. Industrial X-Ray fluorescence machines like this one are more than capable of testing any solid material within minutes. This machine shows the composition of a substance in a nicely color-coded display: Green means the concentration of an element is acceptable, red indicates unacceptable levels and yellow is somewhere in bet. The test takes less than 5 minutes, and more time means more accuracy. These machines were originally designed to allow field analysis of scrap metals and to test soil for contamination. This device is known as an XRF Analyzer, and a handheld unit costs about $40,000.

There is no reason why these machines cannot be integrated with existing X-Ray machines now used to search for guns and knives.