OT: Pray for Beirut and Lebanon

[Louis]

Originally Posted by LJohnny

The news reports 2750 Tons of Ammonium nitrate, that is 5.5 million pounds. That is insane, no wonder the magnitude of the explosion.

It's so much, how does such a huge quantity even explode all at the same time? I don't know anything about this sort of chemical reaction, but wow, that is amazing.

[glepore]

Originally Posted by Louis

It's so much, how does such a huge quantity even explode all at the same time? I don't know anything about this sort of chemical reaction, but wow, that is amazing.

It doesn't, unless its compacted and charged. But if its smoldering in a low oxygen situation and suddenly something hits air...

But, honestly, there may be more to this story. Or not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_F...pany_explosion

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-...s-581-in-texas

One was an accident, one wasn't. Of course, there's Oklahoma City as well. So who knows.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

This is catastrophic. My thoughts and prayers for the people of Beruit.

+100


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[LJohnny]

Having worked during the the dog days of summer in farms during my high school days, I can tell you that fertilizer formulated NH4NO3 can form a hot amalgam and almost start liquefying. So if the conditions were hot and humid things can start melting together.

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by glepore

I do feel for them.



But who the hell stores over 50,000 lbs of ammonium nitrate next to a fireworks warehouse? I mean, what could go wrong?

Inshallah

[jlwdm]

Shocking that this much ammonium nitrate had been stored there for about 6 years.

Jeff

[josephr]

Originally Posted by weisan

video captured from various perspectives

https://youtu.be/eCSQXzGhVj0

thanks...first time seeing video footage of the aftermath. Gonna need a really big shopvac! Seriously, I read 4000 wounded going to hospitals...take that on top or corona and you know their hospitals are over-whelmed.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by robertbb

The shockwave is absolutely insane!

Won't be long before the conspiracy theories (and warmongering) begin...

Already has...yesterday, w/o any evidence. Another distraction..

[William]

Knowing someone in the insurance biz who knows about covering this substance for shipment - it can be very unstable if not stored properly. That much of it being left sitting in a warehouse for that many years...not a surprising outcome.







W.

[Ken Robb]

I wonder why this stuff was being saved for so long.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I wonder why this stuff was being saved for so long.

That's the million dollar question. However, with the state of Lebanon's government it's easy to see why such an oversight could be made. Ammonium nitrate is safe by itself, but can easily become deadly if not stored and protected properly. It looks like somehow someone missed that the huge stockpile should be protected at all costs from any kind of fire or other accelerant.

Good primer on the Lebanese crisis here (spookily published just hours before the blast):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/au...conomic-crisis

Aftermath of the blast site:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/world...rnd/index.html

[benb]

They kept saying the chemicals had been confiscated from a ship. Why they were left there so long who knows.

This explosion looks bigger than most of the videos of fertilizer explosions.

It is also bigger than the US explosion when we had a rocket fuel storage facillity go up in the 80s. Way way bigger.

There are videos of fireworks warehouses on fire.. the initial footage of the fire here doesn't really look like fireworks. Fireworks fires seem to really obviously look like fireworks going off + a giant fire and smoke.

Who knows what but I bet there was something else besides fireworks burning in the initial fire. Maybe just the chemicals themselves.

[Velocipede]

they said it was felt 150 miles away in Greece. I'm surprised that storage warehouse that anything is standing. Some amazing construction right there.

[Gsinill]

Originally Posted by robertbb

The shockwave is absolutely insane!

Won't be long before the conspiracy theories (and warmongering) begin...

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Already has...yesterday, w/o any evidence. Another distraction..

And today called an "attack" by... well, take a guess!

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

they said it was felt 150 miles away in Greece. I'm surprised that storage warehouse that anything is standing. Some amazing construction right there.

Those look like grain elevators....those are tough to take down