Massive Blast in Beirut 08/04/2020

[Bigun]

Stunning Satellite Images Of Beirut Blast Epicenter

[Elderberry]

Any idea how much TNT 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate is equivalent to? That's a really big bomb...

The relative effectiveness of Ammonium Nitrate is 0.42. So 2700 tons would be equivalent to 1,134 tons of TNT.

Now if the ammonium nitrate was contaminated with a combustible, such as fuel then the effectiveness is more.

ANFO (94% AN + 6% fuel oil)  has a relative effectiveness of 0.74 or equivalent to 1,998 tons of TNT.

[DB]

The relative effectiveness of Ammonium Nitrate is 0.42. So 2700 tons would be equivalent to 1,134 tons of TNT.

Now if the ammonium nitrate was contaminated with a combustible, such as fuel then the effectiveness is more.

ANFO (94% AN + 6% fuel oil)  has a relative effectiveness of 0.74 or equivalent to 1,998 tons of TNT.

Thank you.

Really dumb storing so much in one place in a densely populated city.

[Cyber Liberty]

Thank you.

Really dumb storing so much in one place in a densely populated city.

For SIX YEARS!  I'm aghast.

[Elderberry]

Beirut blast: How does ammonium nitrate create such devastating explosions?

By Live Science Staff  8/5/2020

https://www.livescience.com/28841-fertilizer-explosions-ammonium-nitrate.html

The devastating explosion at a port in Beirut yesterday evening (Aug. 4) that killed more than 100 people and injured at least 4,000 seems to have stemmed from a storage unit housing enormous amounts of ammonium nitrate, according to news reports.

The initial explosion ignited a fire, while the second painted the sky in an apocalyptic mushroom cloud and sent a shock wave rippling across the city, leveling buildings and wounding thousands.

Ammonium nitrate, which is used in fertilizers and bomb making, is a salt made from ammonium and nitric acid, and it is highly explosive. The more ammonium nitrate, or NH4-NO3, the bigger its explosive capacity. And there was a lot, reportedly, being stored at the port: The Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said 2,700 metric tons, or more than 2,900 tons, of ammonium nitrate had been being stored at the port since 2014, The Washington Post reported.

But ammonium nitrate has a potentially lethal downside: The compound is considered an oxidizer, meaning at an atomic level, it removes electrons from other substances in a chemical reaction. What that means in a more practical sense is that it increases the burning of fuels by increasing the oxygen that's available to those fuels. To start the reaction, ammonium nitrate must come into contact with an open flame or other ignition source. In the Beirut incident, experts suggest fireworks were involved.

Once a reaction is sparked, ammonium nitrate explodes violently. The explosive force occurs when solid ammonium nitrate decomposes very rapidly into two gases, nitrous oxide and water vapor.

That explosive force from the Beirut blast triggered a shock wave that rippled across the city, causing destruction that some witnesses are comparing to the nuclear bomb’s aftermath at Hiroshima: Smoke hung in the air Wednesday; A sprawling crater had been scooped from the earth; piles of rubble were strewn across the city; entire buildings were just skeletons of the former day; and on videos shared online, rescue workers could be heard searching for anyone trapped beneath the debris.

The orange mushroom cloud that erupted just after the blast can be attributed to toxic nitrogen dioxide gas that forms after an explosion with nitrates, The Associated Press reported.

[mystery-ak]

Trump tempers his description of Beirut explosion as an attack: 'Nobody knows yet'
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/510780-trump-tempers-description-of-beirut-explosion-as-an-attack-nobody

[mystery-ak]

Esper contradicts Trump: 'Most believe' Beirut explosion was an accident
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/510737-esper-most-believe-beirut-explosion-was-an-accident

[Bigun]

Thank you.

Really dumb storing so much in one place in a densely populated city.

Call me anything you like, but I strongly suspect that other things were going on in that area and the stockpile needed to be nearby.

[DB]

Call me anything you like, but I strongly suspect that other things were going on in that area and the stockpile needed to be nearby.

Interesting. But wouldn't a good portion of it have been consumed in 6 years if that were the case?

[Cyber Liberty]

Call me anything you like, but I strongly suspect that other things were going on in that area and the stockpile needed to be nearby.

...or the bureaucrats simply forgot about it in the last couple of purges.

[Bigun]

Interesting. But wouldn't a good portion of it have been consumed in 6 years if that were the case?

Perhaps. but knowing what I know about that part of the world, it's entirely possible that the amount seized was actually much more.  And further, we relly have no way of knowing how much was involved in yesterday's event although it was obviously a lot. We also don't know what else might have been stored in that warehouse.

[AllThatJazzZ]

"When we came to the office that morning...this huge column of orange smoke coming from down at the dock...."

April marks 73 years since the catastrophic Texas City Explosion
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/April-73-years-Texas-City-Explosion-15174717.php

[Gefn]

I’m just catching up with the news after being off line for two and a half days.

This is a horrible loss of lives

[Bigun]

For your reading pleasure

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1290877217694552066.html?__FB_PRIVATE_TRACKING__=%7B%22loggedout_browser_id%22%3A%22dae416e7bd8aba2bbb4ada312df19e8ca1bdb1c3%22%7D&fbclid=IwAR0RdwwS1ufkQiq5R8dADYeFd9W65bNV7mxFdcV8H8k5gNdiB8DqlRzx46w

Make of it what you will.

[mystery-ak]

The moment firefighters tried to enter Beirut's Warehouse 12: Missing crew sent to tackle initial blaze are seen in tragic photo just before store of ammonium nitrate ignited in devastating blast that killed at least 137

    A photo has emerged showing fire crews at Warehouse 12 in Beirut's port moments before it exploded
    Firefighters were called to tackle an initial blaze in Warehouse 9 which spread, triggering cataclysmic blast
    The photographer is known to have died in the explosion while the fire crew are missing, believed to be dead
    At least 137 people died in the blast, with some 5,000 wounded, 300,000 homeless, and widespread damage

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8599453/Last-photo-emerges-firefighters-Beiruts-Warehouse-12-blast.html

[Idiot]

The moment firefighters tried to enter Beirut's Warehouse 12: Missing crew sent to tackle initial blaze are seen in tragic photo just before store of ammonium nitrate ignited in devastating blast that killed at least 137

    A photo has emerged showing fire crews at Warehouse 12 in Beirut's port moments before it exploded
    Firefighters were called to tackle an initial blaze in Warehouse 9 which spread, triggering cataclysmic blast
    The photographer is known to have died in the explosion while the fire crew are missing, believed to be dead
    At least 137 people died in the blast, with some 5,000 wounded, 300,000 homeless, and widespread damage

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8599453/Last-photo-emerges-firefighters-Beiruts-Warehouse-12-blast.html

They never knew what hit them.  How awful....

[mystery-ak]

Bride seen in terrifying viral video as massive Beirut explosion ignited says wedding will go on
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/08/06/bride-seen-in-terrifying-viral-video-as-massive-beirut-explosion-ignited-says-wedding-will-go-on-956540

[Idiot]

Bride seen in terrifying viral video as massive Beirut explosion ignited says wedding will go on
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/08/06/bride-seen-in-terrifying-viral-video-as-massive-beirut-explosion-ignited-says-wedding-will-go-on-956540

Can't blame her.  Things can only get better from there...right?

[catfish1957]

Proximity of grain elevators to that blast has oblivated that food stuffs for 6M people.  The worst part of this disaster hasn't even happened yet.

[Elderberry]

Death Toll Rises In Beirut Blast Linked To Seized Russian-Owned Ship

Radio Free Europe 8/6/2020

https://www.rferl.org/a/reports-link-beirut-s-devastating-blast-to-russian-owned-cargo-ship/30767495.html

Media reports say the ammonium nitrate that exploded was likely unloaded there years earlier from a cargo ship that had been seized from its Russian owner, businessman Igor Grechushkin.

Based on that timeline and the size of the cargo, media reports say the ship was likely the MV Rhosus -- which had been owned at the time of its seizure by Grechushkin.

A businessman from the Siberian city of Khabarovsk, Grechushkin currently lives in Cyprus.

The MV Rhosus was initially confiscated by Lebanese authorities in 2013 under an order by local inspectors in Beirut after it had entered the port due to technical problems, according to lawyers involved in a court case over its seizure.

Prokoshev also confirmed reports that the vessel had been transporting ammonium nitrate from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi to Mozambique when it experienced technical problems that forced it to stop in Beirut.

More at link.

[Cyber Liberty]

The Russian Manifest probably just listed it as "Fertilizer," which it is.

I'd apply Occam's Razor to this one.  It was probably a screw-up.

[sneakypete]

They never knew what hit them.  How awful....

@mrpotatohead

MUCH better than spending days dying in pain from burns.

[Smokin Joe]

That was a pretty mushroom type cloud looking explosion.   Some say the should check for radiation at the blast site.......

No nuclear flash. It would have been extremely bright had there been a fission event. Its just a very large chemical explosion, and likely material stored in one place, together. Separate munitions have a way of scattering and being scattered, some detonating on the outskirts of the major blast. This was more like a chemical stockpile or explosives manufacturing depot. 

[Smokin Joe]

Any idea how much TNT 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate is equivalent to? That's a really big bomb...

Mixed with fuel oil, ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) runs at about 40% of TNT, so this would be somewhat less than one kiloton. (ANFO would have been 1.08KT)

[Cyber Liberty]

Mixed with fuel oil, ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) runs at about 40% of TNT, so this would be somewhat less than one kiloton. (ANFO would have been 1.08KT)

Well, they're Metric tonnes, and a thumbnail estimate is about a Kiloton, as we reckon it.  It's 10X the pile of TNT that was exploded at the Trinity Site a couple weeks before the Gadget, at 0.1 Kton.