Does C4 smell like Almonds?
June 20, 2010 6:54 PM   Subscribe

On "Lie To Me" this past week (possible spoiler alert) one of the characters notices the smell of Almonds while walking up to a building that was rigged to explode with C4. Now I was wondering: does C4 actually smell like Almonds? Or is this just one of those weird Hollywood myths. This seems like a bad property for something used to blow people up (they would smell the almonds and run away).
posted by selenized to Grab Bag (11 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Wikipedia claims (without a source, sadly) that C4 has a 'faint bituminous odor,' which suggests a smell similar to tar or pitch. Looking at the pages for the components of C4, none of them have a smell of almonds.

One of the earliest plastic explosives, Nobel's Explosive No. 808, did have a characteristic almond smell, however.

I suspect, as is so often the case, the writers mixed the properties of two explosives (in this case, the name recognition of C4 and the odor of No. 808) in order to get the result they needed, even if that's not strictly accurate.
posted by jedicus at 7:06 PM on June 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


There are cyanides that are described as smelling of almonds, and it's a common literary shorthand to tie the two together. I think @jedicus is probably closed than me, but it's another option, no having seen the show.
posted by kjs3 at 7:25 PM on June 20, 2010


This seems like a bad property for something used to blow people up (they would smell the almonds and run away).

Nah. C4 is mostly used to blow holes in stuff.

Besides, if they're using it in a bomb, and you're not on a TV show, chances are that you're going to be too close to get away by the time you smell it.
posted by Netzapper at 7:32 PM on June 20, 2010


I don't think it's a myth so much as a stand-in for olfactory detection of the silent but deadly.
posted by rhizome at 7:36 PM on June 20, 2010


Response by poster: thanks jedicus! now when I smell almonds I'll only fear a prussic acid attack.
posted by selenized at 7:40 PM on June 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


Please note: the screenwriters for "Lie to Me" make up all kinds of outrageous non-scientific bullshit merely for the purposes of further propelling their narrative. Any sort of forensic data referred to in their plots is mere crap.
posted by ovvl at 8:34 PM on June 20, 2010


I was messing with C-4 a lot a couple of years ago. I don't remember the smell off the top of my head, but I do know you'd need a hell of a lot to smell it from the street. Like the building would have to be filled with it.
posted by atchafalaya at 12:58 AM on June 21, 2010


For cyanide is it the smell of bitter almonds, not the ones commonly bought and sold in stores.
posted by A189Nut at 3:53 AM on June 21, 2010


Seconding/thirding the cyanide reference. Sounds like someone got their dollops of wisdom puréed.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:04 AM on June 21, 2010


Oh, and speaking as someone who accidentally got a whiff of cyanide (or hydrogen-cyanide) gas, it created a strong impression, but I don't remember anything about bitter almonds. It was more "burny, can't breath! should have opened this in the hood, stupid! lungs/diaphragm don't work, dying?!?! GASP!!...stupidstupidstupid...gasp...stupid...whew!!"
posted by Good Brain at 9:27 AM on June 21, 2010 [2 favorites]


C4 smells of putty, feels just like putty too, kind of oily plasticky.
posted by fingerbang at 10:56 AM on June 21, 2010


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