BREAKING NEWS: Man's leg 'is blown off' by explosion in Central Park near funeral of Holocaust survivor, author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel

[Chieftain]

Depending on who put it there .. explosives.

Of course we may never know.

The way the coverups are so readily applied .. this will remain a "fireworks" accident!

The main difference between firework powders and explosives like dynamite, is that if you pour a large pile of firecracker powder and light it, it will burn very quick, hot, and very bright, but will take some time to burn completely. The same with gunpowder.
Pour it in a little trail and it will burn down the trail at a observable speed.

Take out the insides of a stick of dynamite and make a pile or a long trail and light it, and it will still explode instantly.
None of the burning like flash powder will do when unconfined.

You are describing the difference between rapid deflagration and detonation.  The two are closely related and one can lead to the other under the right circumstances.  It is a difference between a substance that burns very rapidly, and another that when insulted with a shock wave, triggers a rapid chemical reaction that releases massive amounts of energy as the shockwave passes through it.

The explosions in China several months ago are reported to have been in a massive warehouse full of ammonium nitrate.  A small fire inside led to progressively larger detonations of more and more AnNi as each detonation released more and more heat into the surrounding bags until enough of it was heated to the spontaneous detonation point.

The problem with all of this is many things can be assembled correctly to produce an explosion powerful enough to remove a limb.  Black powder from fireworks, if confined properly and in sufficient amounts could work well.  Given the proximity to the 4th of July I would suspect that was probably the explosive de jour, the trigger could be made any number of ways by some clever boy...

 

Picric acid is a good example.  As long as it is wet it is relatively stable, but dry it out and it is impact sensitive and will detonate. 

[WAC]

Some stories seem to be saying that his foot was blown off.

The photo on this thread looks like it was taken off up to almost his knee....

[EC]

Picric acid is a good example.  As long as it is wet it is relatively stable, but dry it out and it is impact sensitive and will detonate.

Easy to get hold of, too. You can get Snappits there, right?

@TomSea  - IN your hand, or ON your hand? There is a huge difference in effect, depending if your hand is open or closed. Blasts move along the lines of least resistance. If your hand was open, most of the blast would go up and out.

[Smokin Joe]

Limbs can be blown off by fireworks. A guy about this same age near us had his arm completely blown off by a homemade sparkler bomb two 4th of July's ago. Judging by the location of the blast I would first suspect he or a companion caused this with their own carelessness.

A  homemade sparkler bomb isn't exactly a standard firework. Even the lifting charge for a significant (6 inch or better) shell might not do what appears to be the damage here. Assuming the foot is still attached by tendons, it is facing the wrong way, which requires enough charge to shatter bone and remove a fair amount of muscle. There is soot and some redness on the other leg, which appears intact, but no tissue damage evident. I doubt whatever he tangled with was a standard firework available to the general public, and, by virtue of location or design appears to have been a directed charge.

[mrclose]

You are describing the difference between rapid deflagration and detonation.  The two are closely related and one can lead to the other under the right circumstances.  It is a difference between a substance that burns very rapidly, and another that when insulted with a shock wave, triggers a rapid chemical reaction that releases massive amounts of energy as the shockwave passes through it.

The explosions in China several months ago are reported to have been in a massive warehouse full of ammonium nitrate.  A small fire inside led to progressively larger detonations of more and more AnNi as each detonation released more and more heat into the surrounding bags until enough of it was heated to the spontaneous detonation point.

The problem with all of this is many things can be assembled correctly to produce an explosion powerful enough to remove a limb.  Black powder from fireworks, if confined properly and in sufficient amounts could work well.  Given the proximity to the 4th of July I would suspect that was probably the explosive de jour, the trigger could be made any number of ways by some clever boy...

 

Picric acid is a good example.  As long as it is wet it is relatively stable, but dry it out and it is impact sensitive and will detonate.

The China thing involved one heck of a lot flash powder!
Imagine what it would been like with the same amount of dynamite. 8)

What ever was hidden under a rock that the guy stepped on was certainly some form of High explosive.
(An instant detonation)

No way could you get your foot/leg blown off with the small amount of black powder that could be hidden under a rock.

High explosives, like TNT, have a different combustion propagation mechanism. Typically the initial combustion of a small amount of explosive (or of a primer cap) generates a shock wave that compresses and heats the remainder of the explosive charge. At a critical temperature and pressure all of the remaining explosive combusts at essentially the same time.

The explosive speeds are ten times (or more) faster than in the fastest deflagration reactions.

The amount of energy released by the two types of explosive are roughly the same, the difference is in how fast the energy is released.

Gun powders, for everything from pistols to 16" naval guns, always burn by deflagration and not detonation.

If you put a detonation (high) explosive in a gun cartridge chances are the gun will explode.

Salutes are almost always flash powder, since flash powder burns faster and gives a better flash and bang than black powder or smokeless powder.

In fireworks, black powder is mostly limited to propellant for professional aerial mortars.

[mrclose]

A  homemade sparkler bomb isn't exactly a standard firework. Even the lifting charge for a significant (6 inch or better) shell might not do what appears to be the damage here. Assuming the foot is still attached by tendons, it is facing the wrong way, which requires enough charge to shatter bone and remove a fair amount of muscle. There is soot and some redness on the other leg, which appears intact, but no tissue damage evident. I doubt whatever he tangled with was a standard firework available to the general public, and, by virtue of location or design appears to have been a directed charge.

I second that!

[TomSea]

Easy to get hold of, too. You can get Snappits there, right?

@TomSea  - IN your hand, or ON your hand? There is a huge difference in effect, depending if your hand is open or closed. Blasts move along the lines of least resistance. If your hand was open, most of the blast would go up and out.

Without making a long story of this, as a lad of about 12, I think we were lighting some fire-crackers, not being particularly or intentionally reckless, somehow I was holding it in my fingers, 3 index fingers and thumb and yes, it exploded but nothing happened except about 5 minutes of numbness. I'd never do anything near that again, it was a freak incident.

I know when we are all kids, you had fireworks, "cherry bombs" were thought to be the more explosive fireworks. I'd never seen one really.

[TomSea]

The photo on this thread looks like it was taken off up to almost his knee....

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/blast-elie-wiesel-funeral-central-park-severs-man-leg-article-1.2697682

'Homemade' explosive that sounded 'like a cannon' blows off student's foot in Central Park (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)

Just what I'm hearing on the news.

Connor Golden, 18, of Fairfax, Va., had just climbed down off a rock near E. 60th St. and Fifth Ave. about 10:52 a.m. when he stepped on the “shock-sensitive” explosive, Lt. Mark Torre, the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Bomb Squad, said. It was inside a black plastic bag when it exploded, a high-ranking police source said.

A disintegrated matchbook was found nearby, leading investigators to believe that someone tried to set it off sometime on Friday, but left it behind when it didn’t work, the high-ranking police source said.

[Smokin Joe]

Something "inside a black plastic bag" could be a chemical precipitate that had not dried out enough to go off if someone had tried to set it off earlier, but had dried sufficiently to be set off by the pressure of him stepping on it. If you knew the contact area size and his body weight, the psi required to set it off might be an indicator of the composition of the explosive.  By now, whoever left it there knows the stuff works, and may be making more if they have malicious intent. Virtually any piece of litter (cup, potato chip bag, cigarette pack) could contain something on that order. (Not to make people paranoid, just don't step on trash and litter).

That said, is someone having terrorist practice?

Or is it just a couple of 'good ol' boys' making a firework with an internet formula?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Explosive That Injured Man in New York's Central Park Likely 'an Experiment,' Cops Say
ABC News, By Dean Schabner,  ·Jul 3, 2016, 5:33 PM ET

The explosive that severely injured a man in New York's Central Park today was likely "an experiment with fireworks or explosives," but did not seem like a device made deliberately to hurt anyone, officials said.

It was still not clear exactly what the explosive was, but police said they did not believe it was connected to terrorism.

Mark Torre, commanding officer of the NYPD bomb squad, added that investigators are leaning toward considering this the work of an explosive "hobbyist," an amateur or someone who knows chemistry.

It could have even been some sort of "experiment" that was not meant to explode, as it did, when stepped on, Torre said.

Three men were walking in an area of the park not far from the entrance to the Central Park Zoo when the explosion occurred, severely injuring the foot of one of them, a New York Police Department spokesperson said.

Police identified the victim as an 18-year-old, and said his friends were interviewed, but they were not suspects, nor were they injured in the explosion.

The injured man was taken to Bellevue hospital with a "possible amputation," a Fire Department of New York spokesperson said. He was in serious but stable condition, officials said early Sunday evening.

One of the young men, Thomas Hinds, 20, said the explosion was "definitely not a firecracker." He said his friend, whom he identified as Connor Golden, 18, had his foot "severely mutilated" by the explosion.

"We were climbing down the rocks, Connor was 6 feet behind me and all of sudden I felt the explosion on my back," Hinds said. "The explosion sounded like a gunshot next to my ears. I turned around and saw his foot which wasn’t completely blown off but was severely mutilated. My other friend Matthew [Stabile, 18] was behind Connor and all he saw was a massive amount of dirt go flying up in the air. My understanding, I could be wrong, is he’s in surgery right now and they are hoping to keep his foot."

He said police questioned them separately and "were understandably going at us hard asking about firecrackers because the idea that there would be some sort of bomb in Central Park is really scary."

The NYPD bomb squad was on the scene, and a portion of the park was closed for the investigation, police said.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/explosive-injured-man-yorks-central-park-experiment-cops/story?id=40314758

[Rivergirl]

So much for all the surveillance cameras in Central Park.

[Smokin Joe]

FBI is running the investigation, iirc. Of course, it had nothing to do with terror.

While it might have been someone experimenting with a homemade firework (without more information, it is hard to say one way or another), that's a pretty substantial contact/pressure detonation, in proximity to the funeral of a Nobel Prize winning Jewish woman. Because of the location and apparent timing, it is tough to rule out a terrorist act.

While the funeral and the explosive may be unrelated, that does not necessarily rule out a terrorist act, or a test of explosives constructed for one.

Nothing to see here, move along please....