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Some chemist acquaintances of mine suggested the same from just looking at the footage immediately after. Along with some scary explanations of what fast shockw
by chmod775 6y ago
Some chemist acquaintances of mine suggested the same from just looking at the footage immediately after. Along with some scary explanations of what fast shockwaves like that do to human blood vessels.
I was convinced this stuff should be outlawed for most uses pretty fast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters
Though on the other hand, the number of incidents and deaths aren't that high considering how prevalent it is. It's just that a critical failure of handling that stuff is quite spectacularly bad.
- 082349872349872 6y agoWhat do you recommend using for fertiliser in its place? (I'm sure someone's thought about this idea before. Timothy McVeigh did his mad bombing with typical rural materiel. Not so fun fact: the VBIED predates the internal combustion engine.)
- BoorishBears 6y agoI think there's some meta commentary here, having someone propose "this dangerous stuff might be getting clamped down on soon". One of the most important materials in the history of modern civilization, that enabled us to get to a place where we can all sit around on HN and not worry how our food is grown
- new2628 6y ago> What do you recommend using for fertiliser in its place? Horse manure :)
- famouslastwords 6y ago> What do you recommend using for fertiliser in its place? > Horse manure :) I surely don't want to be around when 2,750 tons of horse manure detonate :D
- nradov 6y agoAmmonium nitrate is essential as a fertilizer. There are no cost effective alternatives so we'll have to just accept the risk.
- zsellera 6y agoYou can decrease such risks by mixing carbonate minerals (calcium-carbonate and magnesium carboante) into the AN fertilizer, as done in EU counties (and probably in the rest of the world as well).
- raducu 6y agoIsn't it also used as a cost effective explosive in some places? I mean, perhaps thats the reason it was not made inert when it was fabricated in Ukraine. It was on the Lebanese authorities to properly store or dispose of it after they seized the shipping.
- regularfry 6y agoIt's mixed with diesel and used as a quarrying explosive.
- Sharlin 6y agoNot to mention as a historically popular homebrew explosive for less than legal uses.
- menybuvico 6y agoNot to mention that you don't need to store 2750 tonnes of it in a warehouse in a harbour in a large city like Beirut.
- gonzo41 6y agoThe natural heat was the killer. IF twitter was right the fire started from sparks from a welding on a door. The AN must have already been decomposing in the heat and under weight just waiting. I wonder how often this storage facility was at a critical point like this. Like how many hot days. How often before this. It makes you think about all the other risks sitting out there just waiting for a small spark.
- pstrateman 6y agoThere's no real economical alternative fertilizer.
- rtx 6y agoYup, you can see water vapourize.
- nottorp 6y ago> I was convinced this stuff should be outlawed for most uses pretty fast. Let's outlaw cars and kitchen knives as well. Oh and... guns? Outlaw guns in America? :) They can be dangerous too.