SARASOTA (WWSB) — It was somewhat of an explosive demonstration today at the State College of Florida. The Trace Eye-D company had shown students the powerful impact from just a very small amount of chemical in an explosive. More importantly the Sarasota-based company is showcasing how their product can detect explosives.

“Anytime we can add another layer of safety to traveling or to the general public at events or concerts it’s a tremendous thing,” said Barry Gorski, Director of Research and Development for Trace Eye-D.

The product is a chemical formula that is placed on a wipe. If an item has any trace of an explosive the color on the wipe turns purple. Those at the demonstration had a chance to experience this firsthand. The company has involved many SCF students with the work they’re doing through internships.

“It was really nice to see our work come into play from something as small as equations on a board to products on a board that we were testing,” said Brandon Naman, a student at SCF. “It was just nice to get the scope from start to finish.”

Experts say this is now more important than ever because of all the incidents we are experiencing with bombs, including the recent packages with pipe bombs delivered to high ranking political figures and media outlets. The State College of Florida is hoping this gets more students interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

“Whatever they learn here in class, it’s applicable to the outside world and that’s the step these kids were making,” said Jose Ors, Chair of the Natural Science Department at SCF.

Trace Eye-D is testing their product right now with TSA and Homeland Security.

“It has to go through a whole process with them before they can actually put it out into any type of airport," said Gorski. "And from there we plan to go to stadiums and all kind of other different things.”

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