Yep, I have Bachelor's degrees in EE, CS and nursing. But I've been a chemistry geek since I was a kid, and through high school I was in the very small Chemistry Club in high school. And "elements" are rather hard to obtain in their elemental state. Better more controllable chemical compounds are better for making explosives. I gave that up after we were making our "gunpowder" out of sulfur dust, some fine charcoal, aluminum powder and we were using Sodium peroxide powder as an accelerant and BOOM! I only lost part of my left eardrum and had powder burns on the back of my left hand. My mad scientist friend Chris got a piece of the metal pipe we were loading in his thigh and we had to take him to an ER to get it removed. I pretty much gave up bomb making after that.
John Kuthe...