Dry ice bombs were in the news, with two having gone off at LAX. A bit of a surprise that these haven’t been on the radar much, seeing as they don’t have a chemical signature that could be sniffed out, and have no moving parts. When they blow is not really controllable, but the mechanism is simple — the ice sublimates and pressure builds up. Since a mole of an ideal gas wants to take up 22.4L at STP, while the solid takes up negligible volume. Since the volume is restricted, the pressure builds as more gas accumulates, until the container fails. Boom.
It’s noted that such devices are illegal, but when I ran across a story about a teen getting in trouble for doing this in his backyard a while back, the law was stated (or perhaps paraphrased) in such a way that it would make any carbonated beverage illegal. I have to hope most laws are written better than that. It’s rare, but soda bottles can explode, and small amounts of dry ice in containers can be interesting. Context, i.e. the amount of material, matters, much like how the dose makes the poison.
The Homeland can be securitized against Dry Ice terrorism by banning cast iron, bottles overall, and specifically fine champagne. Méthode champenoise bottles run around 90 psi. Second fermentation can go double that and more, sealed with a crown cap not a cork. Bottles are typically certified 300 psi, and most houses use 500 psi bottles (900 grams). Enviro-whiners go ballistic at this waste of glass and transportation costs, demanding thinner bottle walls (as little as 700 g). Failure of one bottle can chain reaction set off entire riddling racks. Poo on Enviro-whiners.
The making of a fine shrapnel-laden Improvised Explosive Device is then obvious, including pre-celebratory toast, if you start from scratch.