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In my humble understanding among I’m nitrate is a oxidizer (or a precursor of it). Am I wrong ? How would it explode without a fuel ?
by aziaziazi 2y ago
In my humble understanding among I’m nitrate is a oxidizer (or a precursor of it). Am I wrong ? How would it explode without a fuel ?
- adastra22 2y ago2NH₄NO₃ (s) → 2N₂ (g) + O₂ (g) + 4H₂O (g) Only happens spontaneously at high temperature/pressure. But of course being an explosive reaction, once it starts in a little pocket of material, all the neighboring material experiences a lot of heat and pressure, and blows up. And then the next layer, and the next layer, etc. If improperly stored, pockets form with different pH values that cause it to spontaneously occur at lower temperatures. Or a spark, or a compressive event in an unstable patch, etc.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 2y agoOr, if the ship is indeed being used as a weapon, a "small" hidden charge of military explosives that will be hard to find after a kiloton-scale explosion.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion suggests that pure AN is also explosive. As far as I know, the explosion that leveled part of Beirut was mostly assumed to be caused by uncontaminated AN too.
- dist-epoch 2y agoIt was stored in the same warehouse with fireworks, and in the videos you can see them explode shortly before the big explosion.
- adastra22 2y agoYes the fire was required to set off the ammonium nitrate. But that’s just to initiate the explosion, and there are many ways it could have been initiated. A single spark would have done the job. But you do not need to mix fuel with the fertilizer to activate it. It provides its own fuel.
- dist-epoch 2y agoMy understanding is that uncontaminated ammonium nitrate does not explode when exposed to fire. Fuel contamination is required.
- adastra22 2y agoYou are confusing with potassium nitrate I think. Ammonium is a fuel, nitrate is an oxidizer. Ammonium nitrate is a perfectly mixed explosive.