This is a very interesting read on using liquids to bomb an airplane

. It seems to be very well informed about the chemistry you’d need.

It boils down to: yes, you could make explosive liquids, but it would take too long, too much cooling and too much space. Oh and every average airport staffer can tell it apart from shampoo, because shampoo just doesn’t smell of nail polish or highly concentrated sulfuric acid.

So they’re just doing security theatre (Wikipedia). I believe that they arrested people who planned to do some attacks. I can’t tell if they had workable plans. But the new “security measures” are bullshit.

If you need weapons on an airplane, just buy some duty-free whiskey, smash the glass and there you go. And while you think about that, stop the paranoia, please.