6 ms·

From the videos I have seen the Tianjin fireball seemed to rage even for a longer duration. In the Beirut one maybe because of daylight, fire is not visible aft

From the videos I have seen the Tianjin fireball seemed to rage even for a longer duration. In the Beirut one maybe because of daylight, fire is not visible after the big blast. I wonder what would cause that difference, the Beirut one supposedly had more material as well.

aaomidi 6y ago
Longer fire = less energy for explosion?
- grogenaut 6y ago
  High explosives burn too fast for regular flames and suck the oxygen out for subsequent burning. Though you can definitely see fire in the first few frames. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair got famous for putting out oil well fires with high explosives. Explosives on burn that fast due to their chemical structure not because of free oxygen in the atmosphere. So if you see a fireball, the explosion has slowed way down. People are used to huge fireballs in movies because they just aerosolize gasoline or others for that effect. Also it's a lot safer than high explosives. High explosives are dangerous. An goes at around 10,000 feet/second or 6,800mph or 10,900 kmh. In those videos when the white large cloud comes out (likely some form of the air being hyper compressed by the shockwave and forced faster than the speed of sound) I was like drop Camera get behind wall nooooooowwww. Or we'll keep camera it may be useful in about 45 minutes.
  - jabl 6y ago
    > In those videos when the white large cloud comes out (likely some form of the air being hyper compressed by the shockwave and forced faster than the speed of sound) The white cloud is due to the shockwave causing moisture in the atmosphere to condense. Or rather immediately after the shockwave in the low pressure region. You can see the same effect sometimes due to supersonic aircraft.
    - a_e_k 6y ago
      Also known as a Wilson cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_cloud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_cloud
  - raducu 6y ago
    But I think the guy did that, it just took him a couple of seconds to register. Remember, you knew it was an explosion before watching the video. I remember I got the same reaction, but I've watched the video multiple times, I think the first time I would have been as slow as the guy filming.
    - grogenaut 6y ago
      I didn't say I would have gone any faster. My point was that I was actually in my head imagining dropping the phone and running away while I watched. I also didn't know it was going to be that big of an explosion. I've got plenty of memories of just not moving fast enough in an bad situation.

aaomidi 6y ago

Longer fire = less energy for explosion?

grogenaut 6y ago
High explosives burn too fast for regular flames and suck the oxygen out for subsequent burning. Though you can definitely see fire in the first few frames. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair got famous for putting out oil well fires with high explosives. Explosives on burn that fast due to their chemical structure not because of free oxygen in the atmosphere. So if you see a fireball, the explosion has slowed way down. People are used to huge fireballs in movies because they just aerosolize gasoline or others for that effect. Also it's a lot safer than high explosives. High explosives are dangerous. An goes at around 10,000 feet/second or 6,800mph or 10,900 kmh. In those videos when the white large cloud comes out (likely some form of the air being hyper compressed by the shockwave and forced faster than the speed of sound) I was like drop Camera get behind wall nooooooowwww. Or we'll keep camera it may be useful in about 45 minutes.
- jabl 6y ago
  > In those videos when the white large cloud comes out (likely some form of the air being hyper compressed by the shockwave and forced faster than the speed of sound) The white cloud is due to the shockwave causing moisture in the atmosphere to condense. Or rather immediately after the shockwave in the low pressure region. You can see the same effect sometimes due to supersonic aircraft.
  - a_e_k 6y ago
    Also known as a Wilson cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_cloud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_cloud
- raducu 6y ago
  But I think the guy did that, it just took him a couple of seconds to register. Remember, you knew it was an explosion before watching the video. I remember I got the same reaction, but I've watched the video multiple times, I think the first time I would have been as slow as the guy filming.
  - grogenaut 6y ago
    I didn't say I would have gone any faster. My point was that I was actually in my head imagining dropping the phone and running away while I watched. I also didn't know it was going to be that big of an explosion. I've got plenty of memories of just not moving fast enough in an bad situation.