The Briefing Room

General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 12:41:48 pm

Title: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 12:41:48 pm
BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion

By Patrick Reilly
February 21, 2022

A Brigham Young University student was brewing homemade rocket fuel on a dormitory stove when the concoction suddenly exploded into a massive “fireball,” according to campus police.

The blast from the experiment-gone-wrong set off fire alarms and sprinklers at Heritage Halls around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, flooding parts of the building, BYU police said. Campus police and The Provo Fire Department responded to the scene.

“The flames from the explosion had engulfed the walls and ceiling around the stove and the intense heat tripped the fire sprinkler system. Firefighters quickly secured the scene and were able to put out the remnants from the fire,” police wrote in a statement.

Police said nobody was injured in the explosion, but 22 dorm residents were displaced due to the flooding. Cops said the building suffered “extensive damage.”

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2022/02/21/brigham-young-university-student-brewing-rocket-fuel-causes-massive-explosion/
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 12:42:37 pm
This story is a little strange because there is no real investigation going on as to why this person was brewing DIY rocket fuel in the first place.  One would have thought that this would have led to a major investigation for potential terror links.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Elderberry on February 22, 2022, 05:04:20 pm
He was very lucky.

There was a report, years ago, of another fool drying his concoction in the oven. Apparently he opened the oven and reached in to remove the pan. It detonated, severing off both hands at the wrists, blinding him and setting him and the entire kitchen on fire.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: mountaineer on February 22, 2022, 05:10:12 pm
Quote
Police to BYU students: Don't make rocket fuel in your dorm
By Pat Reavy, KSL.com (https://www.ksl.com/article/50353145/police-to-byu-students-dont-make-rocket-fuel-in-your-dorm) | Posted - Feb. 21, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.

PROVO — BYU police are reminding students not to make rocket fuel at student housing.

The unusual warning was issued after emergency crews responded to a fire alarm at Heritage Halls at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday.  ...
Thanks, Capt. Obvious.  :laugh:
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 05:48:51 pm
This story is a little strange because there is no real investigation going on as to why this person was brewing DIY rocket fuel in the first place.  One would have thought that this would have led to a major investigation for potential terror links.

When I was a kid that wasn't a terribly uncommon thing to do. He was likely making solid rocket fuel to use in his own rocket. But you don't do it indoors...

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/cooking-saltpeter-sugar-rocket-fuel.306454/
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Wingnut on February 22, 2022, 06:36:49 pm
When I was a kid that wasn't a terribly uncommon thing to do. He was likely making solid rocket fuel to use in his own rocket. But you don't do it indoors...

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/cooking-saltpeter-sugar-rocket-fuel.306454/

Yep.  I was big into Estes Rockets and we tried many times to make our own Solid Rocket engines.   Guess that makes me a terrorist.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 06:38:46 pm
Yep.  I was big into Estes Rockets and we tried many times to make our own Solid Rocket engines.   Guess that makes me a terrorist.

And we still have most of our fingers...
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 06:39:31 pm
Yep.  I was big into Estes Rockets and we tried many times to make our own Solid Rocket engines.   Guess that makes me a terrorist.

It would raise suspicions until you were able to adequately dispel those suspicions.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Wingnut on February 22, 2022, 06:43:25 pm
And we still have most of our fingers...

LOL!  so true.  We were dumb, but we were not stupid!  We cooked our stuff in an old trailer out in the woods...down by the creek incase we needed water.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 06:47:36 pm
LOL!  so true.  We were dumb, but we were not stupid!  We cooked our stuff in an old trailer out in the woods...down by the creek incase we needed water.

Open cut field...
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 06:49:04 pm
It would raise suspicions until you were able to adequately dispel those suspicions.

Only by people who are too afraid to live. Fear and suspicion rules the day these days...
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Wingnut on February 22, 2022, 06:49:51 pm
Open cut field...

Grass fire potential.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 06:50:36 pm
Grass fire potential.

Cut.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Free Vulcan on February 22, 2022, 08:25:54 pm
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_hUa2sEiFmY/hqdefault.jpg)

Let's play some fireball!
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 08:51:20 pm
Only by people who are too afraid to live. Fear and suspicion rules the day these days...

B*llshit.  Somebody cooking explosives - and rocket fuel is sufficiently active to count as an explosive - in their kitchen is suspicious, period.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 09:35:26 pm
B*llshit.  Somebody cooking explosives - and rocket fuel is sufficiently active to count as an explosive - in their kitchen is suspicious, period.

You really have no idea what you are talking about.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 09:35:38 pm
You really have no idea what you are talking about.

/snicker
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: berdie on February 22, 2022, 09:43:49 pm
B*llshit.  Somebody cooking explosives - and rocket fuel is sufficiently active to count as an explosive - in their kitchen is suspicious, period.




There was a time when such an activity might have been chalked up to "college stunt" or as mentioned upthread...useful for some personal rocket.

In today's world, not so much. Times have changed...I would look at this person suspiciously.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 09:47:59 pm



There was a time when such an activity might have been chalked up to "college stunt" or as mentioned upthread...useful for some personal rocket.

In today's world, not so much. Times have changed...I would look at this person suspiciously.

And is why we are raising boys that are afraid of their shadows with little experience in managing risk or anything else.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 09:48:57 pm
And is why we are raising boys that are afraid of their shadows with little experience in managing risk or anything else.

No it isn't. 
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: mountaineer on February 22, 2022, 09:55:12 pm
And is why we are raising boys that are afraid of their shadows with little experience in managing risk or anything else.
It's a bit of a jump between the ability to manage risk and blowing up your dorm room. Surely, there's a middle ground. (And don't call me Shirley).
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Wingnut on February 22, 2022, 10:31:41 pm
B*llshit.  Somebody cooking explosives - and rocket fuel is sufficiently active to count as an explosive - in their kitchen is suspicious, period.
Homer Hickman would have never made it in todays world with your view.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 10:45:14 pm
Homer Hickman would have never made it in todays world with your view.

Nonsense.  He would have been asked to keep his experiments in the school labs, not in his parents' kitchen.

In your world, however, terrorists with homemade IEDs would never get caught.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 10:47:34 pm
It's a bit of a jump between the ability to manage risk and blowing up your dorm room. Surely, there's a middle ground. (And don't call me Shirley).

Wasn't talking about blowing rooms up. Said upstream that it should have been done outside.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 10:50:10 pm
Nonsense.  He would have been asked to keep his experiments in the school labs, not in his parents' kitchen.

In your world, however, terrorists with homemade IEDs would never get caught.

That is complete bullshit. So you are one of those that thinks people can only get an education and learn to critically think in a formal school environment.

Negative.

Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 10:51:12 pm
That is complete bullshit. So you are one of those that thinks people can only get an education and learn to critically think in a formal school environment.

Negative.



Wow.  That is so full of false accusations and strawman arguments that it deserves nothing other than derision.

/snicker
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Wingnut on February 22, 2022, 10:52:20 pm
Nonsense.  He would have been asked to keep his experiments in the school labs, not in his parents' kitchen.

In your world, however, terrorists with homemade IEDs would never get caught.

Man I thought you were a free thinker.  Man you fooled me. 
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: DB on February 22, 2022, 10:52:47 pm
Wow.  That is so full of false accusations and strawman arguments that it deserves nothing other than derision.

/snicker

You're the one who said it had to be done in a school. Not me. Snicker all you want.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 22, 2022, 10:59:44 pm
Man I thought you were a free thinker.  Man you fooled me. 

Seriously?

Why?  Because I'm curious why the cops and the school didn't investigate to find out whether this "kid" was up to something more nefarious than just 20-something hijinks?

I'm not saying he was a terrorist; I'm saying that questions should be asked and satisfactory answers obtained.

Maybe if he'd just been black - then we'd be all over that sh*t, right?
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Elderberry on February 22, 2022, 11:23:01 pm
Quote
As of Tuesday morning, the resident is not expected to face charges, according to police, but once the investigation is closed, it will be overviewed by the prosecutor to determine if charges will be filed. 
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Elderberry on February 22, 2022, 11:25:43 pm
Quote
The 22-year-old student of Brigham Young University (BYU) had around five pounds of the homemade rocket fuel brewing on his dormitory stove Sunday when the mixture suddenly exploded into a massive “fireball” at around 4:30 p.m., the campus police said.

The extensive damage caused by the explosion was estimated to be about $75,000, the fire department said. Although nobody was in serious harm, Long said the situation was no laughing matter.

Long also does not believe the student had any suspicious or criminal motives behind making homemade rocket fuel in his dorm kitchen.

“It doesn’t look like there was anything nefarious in this,” Long reportedly added. “I think it was just a curiosity thing.”
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: verga on February 24, 2022, 07:39:51 pm
Back around 77-78 we were allowed to make Nitrogen Triiodide (SP?) The Chemistry teacher gave us the keys to the Chemical storage cabinet and told us to have at it.
This stuff was supposedly so sensitive that it would go off from fly landing on it when it was dry.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 24, 2022, 07:43:46 pm
Back around 77-78 we were allowed to make Nitrogen Triiodide (SP?) The Chemistry teacher gave us the keys to the Chemical storage cabinet and told us to have at it.
This stuff was supposedly so sensitive that it would go off from fly landing on it when it was dry.


That stuff's pretty sensitive:

Quote
To highlight the sensitivity of the compound, it is usually detonated by touching it with a feather but even the slightest air current, laser light, or other movement can cause detonation.

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_triiodide
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Elderberry on February 24, 2022, 08:01:29 pm
I made many a batch of NI3.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Kamaji on February 24, 2022, 08:03:11 pm
I made many a batch of NI3.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.


:silly:
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Smokin Joe on February 25, 2022, 05:00:18 am
It's a bit of a jump between the ability to manage risk and blowing up your dorm room. Surely, there's a middle ground. (And don't call me Shirley).
Yep. should have done this in a fume hood up in the chemistry dept...

Reality? At least he wasn't making TATP and blowing up a guy with a backpack at on a Park Bench in Norman OK (after being denied access to the game)...

http://projects.oudaily.com/missingallthesigns/ (http://projects.oudaily.com/missingallthesigns/)
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: verga on February 25, 2022, 12:30:18 pm
I made many a batch of NI3.  When dry, even water would set it off. I made a batch and didn't have any distilled water to wash it with, so I used tap water. Well it didn't like that tap water at all. It was exploding in the mason jar as I was stirring it. So I poured the whole batch down the sink drain and chased it with hot water. The pipes were thumping for quite a while.

A co-worker stored a batch in a medicine bottle in his freezer, for I don't know how long. One day he took it out and when he went to open it, some exploded and made a mess of him and his kitchen with the iodine stains.
:beer:  :rolling: :rolling: :rolling:
Title: Re: BYU student brewing rocket fuel in dorm kitchen causes massive ‘fireball’ explosion
Post by: Elderberry on February 25, 2022, 02:06:37 pm
:beer:  :rolling: :rolling: :rolling:

I was in High School when I started making NI3. I would bring a batch in a pill bottle to school and give it all away on squares of paper.

It got placed on seats, in pencil sharpeners, on floors. I never set any myself. One kid rammed the whole piece of paper into the wood shop door latch and made sure the steel door was left open. When that class started and  the shop teacher shut the door, the blast blew the door back open.  The whole school was hopping for a day.