3 ms·
That sounds plausible - it won’t be fireworks alone, black powder won’t make that kind of bang. Ammonium nitrate would fit the bill, too, which is the sort of t
by madaxe_again 6y ago
That sounds plausible - it won’t be fireworks alone, black powder won’t make that kind of bang. Ammonium nitrate would fit the bill, too, which is the sort of thing you often have in warehouses or bulk carriers in quantities that would make an explosion of that order.
Honestly, it’s somewhat amazing that this kind of thing doesn’t happen far more often than the ~1 incident per year, globally.
- Jtsummers 6y agoA friend of mine worked in EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) and related fields. I got to talk with him once about all this. One of the primary thing that reduces the rate of accidents is people following the rules. Basically, there are rules that say, based on mass, how far apart different things need to be from each other. It also varies by the kind of explosive (as different explosives have different triggers like heat or concussion). [0] is like the tables he showed me (his were more complex and dealt with specifically named explosives, not the broader categories this one describes). [0] https://www.atf.gov/explosives/table-distances https://www.atf.gov/explosives/table-distances
- reducesuffering 6y agoQuite prescient. Early reports from Lebanon's Interior Minister seemed to implicate ammonium nitrate.[0] [0]https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/huge-explosion-rocks-lebanon-capital-beirut-live-updates-200804163620414.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/huge-explosion-rocks-...