Comment by jandrewrogers
16 hours ago
FWIW, sodium in water is such a pathetic explosion that it would mostly be an embarrassment for the would-be bomber. It wouldn’t do any meaningful damage.
An explosion with real gravitas is far more difficult to execute than people imagine. (see also: people that think ANFO is a viable explosive) This goes a long way in explaining why truly destructive bombings are rare.
ANFO is certainly a viable explosive for a truck bomb, e.g. Oklahoma City.
Airliners are also pretty robust against damage. Although they are not designed to resist explosions, everything is redundant.
This robustness is why fighters in WW2 used cannons for guns. Poking a hole in the side won't do anything.
The USA mostly used .50 caliber machine guns, usually with a mix of ammunition including incendiary bullets so that a hole in a fuel tank meant a large fire. Fighters from the other major combatants usually had 20mm autocannons in addition to smaller machine guns.