Beirut Explosion

racing_kitty said:
Not gonna lie, that shock wave was gorgeous.

Unofficial word from amongst my tribe is that there was a boat with fireworks on board. There’s one video out there where you can see it cooking off. On my phone, I was quite skeptical of that, but on a different screen I could see it better.

Anyway, that boat caught on fire. Not good. That right there is already what I’d call a bad fucking day. That boat just happened to be located right next to a warehouse where a fuckton of confiscated chemicals and explosives (sodium nitrate and possibly AN) were kept for a couple of years ( let that sink in for a second...)

The grain silo @medicchick references is right beside that warehouse,, but I digress.

So yeah, fireworks on fire get fucking hot as balls. That shit also gets verrrrrrrry touchy. Word from witnesses was that there was a smaller det before that big motherfucker. That would be the fireworks. Heat, shock and friction were adequately applied to that warehouse chock full of really touchy shit as a result. The end result is Exhibit A.
Click to expand...
So, you're saying NOT just a couple M-80's?!
 
^ I may be wrong, but I think a similar situation, improper storage of ammonium nitrate, led to the leveling of the West Fertilizer plant 10 years or so ago.
 
Blizzard said:
^ I may be wrong, but I think a similar situation, improper storage of ammonium nitrate, led to the leveling of the West Fertilizer plant 10 years or so ago.
Click to expand...

You mean the bomb that killed their PM in '05?
 
Ammonium nitrate was also mixed with nitro methane and diesel fuel to create the bomb that blew up the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma.

Ammonium nitrate by itself is not explosive and has to be mixed with other reactants to explode like that. The only way a fire, like the heat from fireworks, could have caused it is if an occurrence called deflagration to detonation transition happens. Guess we shall find out soon enough.
 
Kaldak said:
You mean the bomb that killed their PM in '05?
Click to expand...

I think the explosion in West, Texas in 2013.

" The force felt was equivalent to that of a magnitude-2.1 earthquake, and a 93-foot-wide crater scarred the site of the fertilizer plant, where dangerous chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, were stored. "

 
Yeah, I got a giggle watching that shock wave. "Annd I think I'm going to find overhead cover now..."

I buy the storage for years in the same spot solely because how else are you going to make sure your local terrorist organization has a supply point with plausible deniability?

@racing_kitty How much do you think the grain silo contributed? I don't think there was enough there to get the expected correct ratio for a powder puff, but it's not like less isn't going to work, unlike if you stray in the other direction.
 
Kraut783 said:
I think the explosion in West, Texas in 2013.

" The force felt was equivalent to that of a magnitude-2.1 earthquake, and a 93-foot-wide crater scarred the site of the fertilizer plant, where dangerous chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, were stored. "

Click to expand...
Yes, this.
 
Ranger Psych said:
Yeah, I got a giggle watching that shock wave. "Annd I think I'm going to find overhead cover now..."

I buy the storage for years in the same spot solely because how else are you going to make sure your local terrorist organization has a supply point with plausible deniability?

@racing_kitty How much do you think the grain silo contributed? I don't think there was enough there to get the expected correct ratio for a powder puff, but it's not like less isn't going to work, unlike if you stray in the other direction.
Click to expand...

The grain silo had fuck all to do with any contribution to that beast, tbh. Not the contents, nor the structure. That much explosives going off at once, I doubt the building could’ve contributed to any meaningful reflection of the blast wave nanoseconds before it was leveled. If the quoted tonnage was correct, as another tech noted elsewhere online, that was about a 1.1KT NEW. *ETA: That’s not to say that the grain silo didn’t have its own explosion. Just at that close proximity and amount of shit there, you wouldn’t be able to discern the grain explosion from the AN. *

Ancient AN is already inherently cranky. Look at the Texas City explosion, 1947 and you’ll see what I mean. Dissolving AN is an endothermic reaction; decomposing AN is most certainly not.

Here’s a damned good video of the blast. Apparently the dude was live streaming the smaller fire when Hell broke loose. Pretty sure he didn’t feel a thing on his way off the mortal coil.
https://www.facebook.com/517258238709611/posts/996968017405295
 
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