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> Ammonium nitrate is highly explosive, especially when exposed to fire Is that true? It seems, from a pedestrian perspective, if just fire could trigger it, t

by rdtsc 2y ago

> Ammonium nitrate is highly explosive, especially when exposed to fire Is that true? It seems, from a pedestrian perspective, if just fire could trigger it, they wouldn’t be transporting it in such amounts.

adastra22 2y ago
Just shaking it too much can trigger it, if stored improperly.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  If it gets wet or packed too tightly. Ah interesting. Yeah trusting Russian inspectors that they did their job is not a good idea.
albumen 2y ago
From the Wikipedia article [1]: "In the second case, the explosion results from a fire that spreads into the ammonium nitrate (AN) itself (Texas City, Brest, Tianjin, Beirut) or to a mixture of an ammonium nitrate with a combustible material during the fire. The fire must be confined at least to a degree for successful transition from a fire to an explosion (a phenomenon known as "deflagration to detonation transition", or DDT). Pure, compact AN is stable and very difficult to initiate. Ammonium nitrate decomposes in temperatures above 169 °C (336 °F). Pure AN is stable and will stop decomposing once the heat source is removed, but when catalysts are present, the reaction can become self-sustaining (known as self-sustaining decomposition, or SSD). This is a well-known hazard with some types of NPK fertilizers and is responsible for the loss of several cargo ships." [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ammonium_nitrate_incidents_and_disasters https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ammonium_nitrate_inc...
SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
> if it was so unsafe, they wouldn’t be transporting it in such amounts. You'd think so, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion A classic example of how reasoning from logic alone is no match actual knowledge of reality. Or perhaps, in this specific case, the unsafeness is the point: it's intended to harass.
- lazide 2y ago
  Sounds like a classic job for the CIA. Uh, I mean, ‘accident’.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  They store it next to fireworks. And then proceed to weld near where the fireworks are stored.
kpil 2y ago
No not really. You need an explosion or energetic impact to trigger it, and potentially a fire too. But it might become unstable by heat and more so if it's contaminated by oil. One early industrial disaster and the biggest explosion of it's time happened because the workers in a production plant in Germany regularly used Dynamite to clear out stuck ammonium nitrate in silos. The last time they tried, the plant was obliterated together with most of the nearby town.
- gus_massa 2y ago
  I had to find more details. From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion > Indeed, nothing extraordinary had happened during an estimated 20,000 firings, until the fateful explosion on September 21 [1921].

by rdtsc 2y ago

adastra22 2y ago

Just shaking it too much can trigger it, if stored improperly.

rdtsc 2y ago
If it gets wet or packed too tightly. Ah interesting. Yeah trusting Russian inspectors that they did their job is not a good idea.

albumen 2y ago

From the Wikipedia article [1]: "In the second case, the explosion results from a fire that spreads into the ammonium nitrate (AN) itself (Texas City, Brest, Tianjin, Beirut) or to a mixture of an ammonium nitrate with a combustible material during the fire. The fire must be confined at least to a degree for successful transition from a fire to an explosion (a phenomenon known as "deflagration to detonation transition", or DDT). Pure, compact AN is stable and very difficult to initiate. Ammonium nitrate decomposes in temperatures above 169 °C (336 °F). Pure AN is stable and will stop decomposing once the heat source is removed, but when catalysts are present, the reaction can become self-sustaining (known as self-sustaining decomposition, or SSD). This is a well-known hazard with some types of NPK fertilizers and is responsible for the loss of several cargo ships." [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ammonium_nitrate_incidents_and_disasters https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ammonium_nitrate_inc...

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago

> if it was so unsafe, they wouldn’t be transporting it in such amounts. You'd think so, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion A classic example of how reasoning from logic alone is no match actual knowledge of reality. Or perhaps, in this specific case, the unsafeness is the point: it's intended to harass.

lazide 2y ago
Sounds like a classic job for the CIA. Uh, I mean, ‘accident’.
rdtsc 2y ago
They store it next to fireworks. And then proceed to weld near where the fireworks are stored.

kpil 2y ago

No not really. You need an explosion or energetic impact to trigger it, and potentially a fire too. But it might become unstable by heat and more so if it's contaminated by oil. One early industrial disaster and the biggest explosion of it's time happened because the workers in a production plant in Germany regularly used Dynamite to clear out stuck ammonium nitrate in silos. The last time they tried, the plant was obliterated together with most of the nearby town.

gus_massa 2y ago
I had to find more details. From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion > Indeed, nothing extraordinary had happened during an estimated 20,000 firings, until the fateful explosion on September 21 [1921].