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The amount of material must have been ridiculous to store in such a place. The blast is staggering in size, almost like the Tianjin explosion a few years ago.

The amount of material must have been ridiculous to store in such a place. The blast is staggering in size, almost like the Tianjin explosion a few years ago. Collected videos: Angle #1 https://streamable.com/xmmoa7 https://streamable.com/xmmoa7 Angle #2 https://streamable.com/nscx9m https://streamable.com/nscx9m Angle #3 https://streamable.com/zbjj5f https://streamable.com/zbjj5f Angle #4 https://streamable.com/saoafz https://streamable.com/saoafz Angle #5 https://streamable.com/4ga1vb https://streamable.com/4ga1vb Angle #6 https://streamable.com/lmivb2 https://streamable.com/lmivb2 Angle #7 https://streamable.com/mcy82f https://streamable.com/mcy82f Angle #8 https://streamable.com/zg9oal https://streamable.com/zg9oal Angle #9 https://streamable.com/zykkj6 https://streamable.com/zykkj6 Angle #10 https://streamable.com/22e152 https://streamable.com/22e152

sozy777 6y ago
http://washingtonindependent.com/large-explosion-in-beirut-lebanon-2020-08-04/ http://washingtonindependent.com/large-explosion-in-beirut-l... Many angles here as well
5m17h 6y ago
The Tianjin explosion has been in the impression that many Chinese people have forgotten
markdown 6y ago
> The amount of material must have been ridiculous to store in such a place. This is a photo supposedly of the warehouse: https://imgbb.com/r4Q64xc https://imgbb.com/r4Q64xc
yxhuvud 6y ago
Roughly twice the amount exploded compared to Tianjin, actually. 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate compared to 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrates and 600 tonnes of potassium nitrate in Tianjin. So yes, quite ridiculous.
- velox_io 6y ago
  What strikes me as odd (aside from the massive shockwave), is how there were no fireballs, all other fertilizer fires have bright explosions. It's burnt rather than detonated. Here, all of the fertilizer ignited faster than the speed of sound (resulting in a virtually perfect spherical shockwave). Although the shockwave could have doused any flames, so that idea is plausible.. The other anomaly is the deep red smoke, that's something that seems unusual too (aside from storing so much fertilizer in such a built up area for so long). This is a disaster on so many levels, but then when is a disaster only caused by a single issue?
  - contravariant 6y ago
    You're just not looking hard enough. The video used in this post has exactly 1 frame where the fireball is clearly visible [1]. I'm guessing the sheer scale just threw you off. [1]: https://i.imgur.com/Nvb7lWJ.png https://i.imgur.com/Nvb7lWJ.png
  - hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
    I read a news article that said the deep red smoke is a hallmark of ammonium nitrate.
    - KMag 6y ago
      Yes, particularly ammonium nitrate (or another nitrate) without enough fuel to consume the excessive oxygen released when the nitrate decomposes. Nitrogen dioxide is that deep red-orange. It's the most common oxidizer in hypergolic rocket motors (though, they pressurize and cool it to get it to largely dimerize dinitrogen tetroxide). The other oxides of nitrogen produced by ammonium nitrate decomposition are basically colorless. Hot nitrogen dioxide would have pretty much instantly oxidized any fuel present, releasing more energy and dramatically toning down that deep red-orange color. This is good evidence against an intentional detonation. Even if it were arson, it probably wasn't an intentional detonation. It's inconceivable that anyone with enough research to successfully cause an ammonium nitrate detonation wouldn't have run across the fact that any of a number of cheap organic fuels increase both the power and reliability of ammonium nitrate explosions. So, it's very unlikely this was an intentional explosion, unless they were trying to make it look like an accident. If they were trying to make it look like an accident, then the objective wasn't to generate fear in the populace / political change, and any conspiracy theorist then has the problem of having to figure out what the specific target was, since we can rule out the general populace. This should put most conspiracy theories to rest, at least without silly statements by the tweeter-in-chief.
nitred 6y ago
In Angle #6, did that crack in the roof occur in real time due to the explosion or does it just seem that way due to low resolution of the camera? If that crack was due to the explosion, then I'm concerned for much of the infrastructure which is within a 3 KM radius around the explosion.
- vishnugupta 6y ago
  It does seem to be real time. I noticed the delay as well in angle #7. The shock wave hits the car and the driver a good 3-4 seconds after the blast.
- mh- 6y ago
  I believe we watched it happen in realtime. If you turn your volume up (careful, the initial blast is quite louder) you can hear [what I believe is] it cracking. Yikes.
schoen 6y ago
I found angle #8 the most abjectly terrifying of these. :-(
- glaberficken 6y ago
  That's the first video I saw on the breaking news, gut reaction was "that really looks like Hollywood cgi to me".

sozy777 6y ago

http://washingtonindependent.com/large-explosion-in-beirut-lebanon-2020-08-04/ http://washingtonindependent.com/large-explosion-in-beirut-l... Many angles here as well

5m17h 6y ago

The Tianjin explosion has been in the impression that many Chinese people have forgotten

markdown 6y ago

> The amount of material must have been ridiculous to store in such a place. This is a photo supposedly of the warehouse: https://imgbb.com/r4Q64xc https://imgbb.com/r4Q64xc

yxhuvud 6y ago

Roughly twice the amount exploded compared to Tianjin, actually. 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate compared to 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrates and 600 tonnes of potassium nitrate in Tianjin. So yes, quite ridiculous.

velox_io 6y ago
What strikes me as odd (aside from the massive shockwave), is how there were no fireballs, all other fertilizer fires have bright explosions. It's burnt rather than detonated. Here, all of the fertilizer ignited faster than the speed of sound (resulting in a virtually perfect spherical shockwave). Although the shockwave could have doused any flames, so that idea is plausible.. The other anomaly is the deep red smoke, that's something that seems unusual too (aside from storing so much fertilizer in such a built up area for so long). This is a disaster on so many levels, but then when is a disaster only caused by a single issue?
- contravariant 6y ago
  You're just not looking hard enough. The video used in this post has exactly 1 frame where the fireball is clearly visible [1]. I'm guessing the sheer scale just threw you off. [1]: https://i.imgur.com/Nvb7lWJ.png https://i.imgur.com/Nvb7lWJ.png
- hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
  I read a news article that said the deep red smoke is a hallmark of ammonium nitrate.
  - KMag 6y ago
    Yes, particularly ammonium nitrate (or another nitrate) without enough fuel to consume the excessive oxygen released when the nitrate decomposes. Nitrogen dioxide is that deep red-orange. It's the most common oxidizer in hypergolic rocket motors (though, they pressurize and cool it to get it to largely dimerize dinitrogen tetroxide). The other oxides of nitrogen produced by ammonium nitrate decomposition are basically colorless. Hot nitrogen dioxide would have pretty much instantly oxidized any fuel present, releasing more energy and dramatically toning down that deep red-orange color. This is good evidence against an intentional detonation. Even if it were arson, it probably wasn't an intentional detonation. It's inconceivable that anyone with enough research to successfully cause an ammonium nitrate detonation wouldn't have run across the fact that any of a number of cheap organic fuels increase both the power and reliability of ammonium nitrate explosions. So, it's very unlikely this was an intentional explosion, unless they were trying to make it look like an accident. If they were trying to make it look like an accident, then the objective wasn't to generate fear in the populace / political change, and any conspiracy theorist then has the problem of having to figure out what the specific target was, since we can rule out the general populace. This should put most conspiracy theories to rest, at least without silly statements by the tweeter-in-chief.

nitred 6y ago

In Angle #6, did that crack in the roof occur in real time due to the explosion or does it just seem that way due to low resolution of the camera? If that crack was due to the explosion, then I'm concerned for much of the infrastructure which is within a 3 KM radius around the explosion.

vishnugupta 6y ago
It does seem to be real time. I noticed the delay as well in angle #7. The shock wave hits the car and the driver a good 3-4 seconds after the blast.
mh- 6y ago
I believe we watched it happen in realtime. If you turn your volume up (careful, the initial blast is quite louder) you can hear [what I believe is] it cracking. Yikes.

schoen 6y ago

I found angle #8 the most abjectly terrifying of these. :-(

glaberficken 6y ago
That's the first video I saw on the breaking news, gut reaction was "that really looks like Hollywood cgi to me".