Goma-2 was a type of
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...
manufactured for industrial use (chiefly
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
) by Unión Española de Explosivos S.A.
It was a gelatinous,
nitroglycol-based explosive widely used within Spain and exported abroad.
It was used by
ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
in the 1980s and 1990s.
There were two variants of Goma-2: Goma-2 EC and Goma-2 ECO. As of 2017, the manufacturer MAXAM Corp. S. L. has reformulated the Goma-type ammonia gelatine dynamites which are marketed worldwide under the new Riodin trade name.
Properties
Goma-2 explosive was a mixture of several chemicals:
Safety data sheet for Goma-2 ECO by Nordspreng
/ref>
*Ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...
- 60—70%
* Nitroglycol - 26—34%
*Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
- 0.5—2%
*Dibutyl phthalate
Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is an organic compound which is commonly used as a plasticizer because of its low toxicity and wide liquid range. With the chemical formula C6H4(CO2C4H9)2, it is a colorless oil, although commercial samples are often yell ...
- 1—3%
* Fuels - 1—3%
As with other commercial blasting explosives, detonators were needed to initiate a detonation (usually a blasting cap
A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common.
The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...
# 8).
Terrorist use
Goma-2 ECO was the explosive that was used in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Terrorist Jamal Ahmidan, also known as El Chino, bought the explosive illegally from a mine in northern Spain. It was also planned by the same cell that carried out the Madrid bombings to use the explosive to derail a high-speed train. In 1973, about 80 kilograms of the explosive was used by ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
in Operation Ogro to assassinate Luis Carrero Blanco
Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as the Prime Minister of Spain and i ...
. The explosion was so powerful it threw Blanco's car over a five story building.
References
External links
MAXAM
Content of Goma-2 ECO
{dead link, date=October 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
NordNorsk Goma-2 ECO fact sheet
Explosives