The explosion in China and (Beirut)....

[Kotowboy]

T H A N K Y O U

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

[Kotowboy]

Hipster.

[El Barto]

Wow hadn't seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7FXeaahRsg

That was awesome. The Chinglish commentary made it even better. I guess OH SHIT! is part of the universal lexicon.

[lonestar]

Chinglish

[millahh]

Gotta love nitrogen chemistry...

[jingle.boy]

Chinglish Chingrish

Fix'd

[lonestar]

 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Didn't wanna make a new thread but saw some footage of the Beirut explosion and it freaked me tf out. That explosion was insane and from what I understand, that was about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploding while the Tianjin was about 800 of ammonium nitrate.

Such a tragic accident should never happen. It's crazy that stuff like that are stored in public areas.

[Podaar]

It's crazy that stuff like that are stored in public areas.

Yeah, and to nearby fireworks storage since 2014, no less. It's a wonder it took so long to go up.

[El Barto]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/08/05/beirut-explosion-lebanon-destruction-drone-video-lon-orig-bks.cnn

What's striking to me isn't the proximate damage, but the wide view of the city as a whole. Helluva time to be a glazer.

[jingle.boy]

Wow... $3B-$5B of damage.  That was one helluva blast.

[Grappler]

This puts it into perspective when it's overlaid onto a map of Chicago - damage to windows reached out for several miles. 

[bosk1]

And it isn't just the obvious physical damage either.  That was the port that went up.  Whatever was being transported in/out of that port is gone, and everything inside (and for a good distance outside) is contaminated by toxic dust, from what I understand.  What a tragedy.

[goo-goo]

From what I've read, the product was ammonium nitrate (compound found in fertilizer, not sure if it's used for other stuff) and apparently someone was welding near the silos. Which kind of makes sense since before the explosion, a fire had already started. With this in mind, this is similar to what happened in West, Texas where the fertilizer plant blew up back in 2013 I believe. They must of had tons of the ammonium nitrate for that amount of energy to be dissipated. Hopefully the investigation shows what really happened. Having said that, I feel sorry for the people from Beirut. Death toll is probably going to rise significantly, massive amount of damage, and the port closed.

[wolfking]

Literally something from a movie this.

[jingle.boy]

Literally something from a movie this.

Perhaps Michael Bay was in Beirut recently?

[hunnus2000]

From what I've read, the product was ammonium nitrate (compound found in fertilizer, not sure if it's used for other stuff) and apparently someone was welding near the silos. Which kind of makes sense since before the explosion, a fire had already started. With this in mind, this is similar to what happened in West, Texas where the fertilizer plant blew up back in 2013 I believe. They must of had tons of the ammonium nitrate for that amount of energy to be dissipated. Hopefully the investigation shows what really happened. Having said that, I feel sorry for the people from Beirut. Death toll is probably going to rise significantly, massive amount of damage, and the port closed.

I was just going to mention West and the Oklahoma city bombing. From my understanding, if you don't store that chemical just right, it can explode.

That's just effing incredible!

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

They must of had tons of the ammonium nitrate for that amount of energy to be dissipated.

From what i've heard the storage contained 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. For comparison the 2015 Tianjin explosion had "only" 800 tonnes.

Saw this quote:

A team from the University of Sheffield has calculated the strength of the blast based on the videos and photographs which have emerged since the disaster.

They believe the explosion was the equivalent of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of TNT – a blast intensity which would support the belief that it was caused by the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser.

This is about a tenth of the intensity of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb but far bigger than any blast from a conventional weapon.

A bride photoshoot during the explosion

[XJDenton]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disaster

Ammonium nitrate can be extremely dangerous stuff in the right circumstances.

And it isn't just the obvious physical damage either.  That was the port that went up.  Whatever was being transported in/out of that port is gone, and everything inside (and for a good distance outside) is contaminated by toxic dust, from what I understand.  What a tragedy.

Apparently close to 80% of the country's grain stores were on that dock. This, alongside the destruction of the port is an extremely bleak problem for a country that imports most of its food.

[lonestar]

The scariest fact I heard so far was that OK city bomber used 2.5 tonnes of the stuff, and we all know what that did to the Murray building.


To the bride photoshoot, I love how the cameramen are instantly all 'fuck this chick I'm outta here

[The Walrus]

I wonder how many people went deaf from that blast. The bride photoshoot video is insane. I can't imagine that sound in person. I've heard the entire city suffered damage from that. That's crazy to think about.

[Dublagent66]

From what I've heard recently, supposedly there were several requests to move the stockpile to a more remote location.  It was more than likely an executive decision that it would cost too much to do that.  Ooops! 

[MirrorMask]

From what I've heard recently, supposedly there were several requests to move the stockpile to a more remote location.  It was more than likely an executive decision that it would cost too much to do that.  Ooops! 

Let's hope this is the Titanic of these kind of accidents and that this will raise awareness about the dangers of these stockpiles. Not that I know how many there are in the world or how are they usually handled, however.

[Lonk]

From what I've heard recently, supposedly there were several requests to move the stockpile to a more remote location.  It was more than likely an executive decision that it would cost too much to do that.  Ooops! 

Yeah I heard this morning that there were request to move it from 2016.

I also saw a video of a father recording his wife in the delivery room when the explosion happened. Luckily the baby and the mother are ok. Scary stuff 

[The Walrus]

From what I've heard recently, supposedly there were several requests to move the stockpile to a more remote location.  It was more than likely an executive decision that it would cost too much to do that.  Ooops! 

Let's hope this is the Titanic of these kind of accidents and that this will raise awareness about the dangers of these stockpiles. Not that I know how many there are in the world or how are they usually handled, however.

I was hoping Tianjin would've been the Titanic considering it looked like the gates of Hell itself had opened.

[Dublagent66]

Estimated 300,000 homeless and $15B in damages.  Jesus! 

[El Barto]

For the record, McVey in OKC made a crude but highly destructive bomb using amonium nitrate, but it was only one component, and much of its destructive force came from other design elements. They're not really comparable.

Not too hard to find where the explosion originated.

[XJDenton]

For the record, McVey in OKC made a crude but highly destructive bomb using amonium nitrate, but it was only one component, and much of its destructive force came from other design elements. They're not really comparable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO#ANNM

The primary explosive of the OK bombing was a mixture of ammonium nitrite and nitromethane. In this case the Ammonium Nitrate acts to oxidise the Nitromethane in addition to acting as a primary explosive, and raises the relative yield from around 0.42 to about 0.78 TNT equivalent. So the explosive power per mass of AN is around 2 times less than that of the OK bombing, but that's still around 1 kiloton of TNT equivalent.

[Ben_Jamin]

It's just crazy how in a quick second, an entire cities life has changed.

From what I've heard recently, supposedly there were several requests to move the stockpile to a more remote location.  It was more than likely an executive decision that it would cost too much to do that.  Ooops! 

If it's true, they are drenched in the blood of their own people.

[XJDenton]

My understanding was that because it was seized cargo it needed permission from the courts to "enter" the country and be stored elsewhere, and the courts repeatedly just pushed back making a decision.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

For the record, McVey in OKC made a crude but highly destructive bomb using amonium nitrate, but it was only one component, and much of its destructive force came from other design elements. They're not really comparable.

Not too hard to find where the explosion originated.

Yea this video shows just that:

Closest footage of the Beirut Lebanon blast

There's something about the need or fix for taking footage of something despite knowing your life may be in danger. It's almost like the need for documenting something and probably put it online overrides common sense. I feel you see that kind of behavior more often these days.

[El Barto]

For the record, McVey in OKC made a crude but highly destructive bomb using amonium nitrate, but it was only one component, and much of its destructive force came from other design elements. They're not really comparable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO#ANNM

The primary explosive of the OK bombing was a mixture of ammonium nitrite and nitromethane. In this case the Ammonium Nitrate acts to oxidise the Nitromethane in addition to acting as a primary explosive, and raises the relative yield from around 0.42 to about 0.78 TNT equivalent. So the explosive power per mass of AN is around 2 times less than that of the OK bombing, but that's still around 1 kiloton of TNT equivalent.

I'm not sure if there's a point in there directed at me or not. In any case, I looked for the increase in yield the racing fuel added and didn't find it, so that's good information (and significant). It's worth noting, though, that McVeigh also used aluminum siding along five sides of this truck to better direct the blast, hence the damage being so unilateral. I've also read that he may have been able to boost his ANFO with flaked aluminum, which makes it both easier to detonate and increases the blast yield.

[Dublagent66]

Kinda weird that this explosion happened just 2 days shy of the Hiroshima bombing anniversary (75 years ago today).  Not saying Beirut was deliberate, but the timing is kinda eerie.  I don't think they can rule anything out at this point.  But all that AN was stored next to an industrial grade fireworks warehouse?  With a blast that big, how can they determine which was ignited first?  Seems real suspicious to me.

[lonestar]

Kinda weird that this explosion happened just 2 days shy of the Hiroshima bombing anniversary (75 years ago today).  Not saying Beirut was deliberate, but the timing is kinda eerie.  I don't think they can rule anything out at this point.  But all that AN was stored next to an industrial grade fireworks warehouse?  With a blast that big, how can they determine which was ignited first?  Seems real suspicious to me.

The fireworks ignited first. Here's a good breakdown of it all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnSr820S2Mk

So wharehouse full of ammonium Nitrate next to fireworks factory next to 80% of the countries emergency grain food storage. Really not the best city planning I'd say, I mean I'm far from an expert but damn.