Booby trap facts for kids
A booby trap is a hidden device or setup. It is made to surprise or hurt a person. Usually, the person who gets caught in the trap does not know it is there. The trap is triggered by something the victim does, like opening a door or picking something up.
During the Vietnam War, many American soldiers were hurt by booby traps. They can be a form of psychological warfare in war. This means they are designed to make soldiers slow down. They also make soldiers very careful and worried.
What is a Booby Trap?
A booby trap is a hidden device that waits for someone to trigger it. It can be something simple, like a tripwire connected to an alarm. Or it can be more complex, like a hidden explosive. The main idea is that the trap is not obvious. It is meant to catch someone off guard.
How Do They Work?
Booby traps are often triggered by everyday actions. Imagine opening a door, turning on a light switch, or picking up an object. These simple actions can set off a hidden trap. Some traps are also triggered by vehicles. For example, a hidden device might go off when a car drives over it on a road. These are often called improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Booby traps are often placed in places where people or vehicles would naturally go. These spots are called "choke points." An example might be a narrow path, a doorway, or a bridge.
Why Are They Used?
In warfare, especially guerrilla warfare, booby traps are used to hurt or stop enemy soldiers. They are also used to make the enemy afraid and slow down. This can give an advantage to the side setting the traps.
Sometimes, people who want to protect their property use booby traps. This could be to stop theft or to guard valuable items. However, using dangerous booby traps can be against the law and cause serious harm.
Images for kids
-
Vietnam War: Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers show Vietnamese villagers types of Viet Cong booby traps.
-
A group of 105mm artillery shells with plastic explosive stuffed into their fuze pockets. Each of the 5 shells has been linked together with red detcord to make them detonate simultaneously. To turn this assembly into a booby trap, the final step would be to connect an M142 firing device to the detcord and hide everything under some form of cover e.g. newspapers or a bed-sheet.
-
Booby-trap firing devices, c. 1941: press, pull and release switches; mass-produced components intended for the construction of booby traps.
-
A Yugoslav POMZ anti-personnel mine that has been booby trapped with a hand grenade. A deminer could disable the stake mine, only to set off the hand-grenade when they remove the mine for disposal. (Balkans 1996)
-
Alternative design of USSR booby trap firing device - pull fuze: normally connected to tripwire
See also
In Spanish: Trampa cazabobos para niños
