villakram Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 14 minutes ago, Brumerican said: Anybody selling a lead lined fridge ? You should be banned for reminding anyone of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumerican Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Yup . He should have exited that fridge as Indy soup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withnail Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbauer24 Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I'm no scientist but won't the colour of the smoke prior to the blast, and the massive blast itself, give an indication of the likely contents of the warehouse/silo or whatever it was? The videos all show a fairly dark reddish/orange smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withnail Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 From a Washington Post article. Can’t seem to post the whole thing. The telltale signs of ignited ammonium — reddish smoke — spewed from the blast, Lewis said. The color is consistent with the chemical compound and comes from nitrogen oxides, the byproduct of which gives smog its reddish-brown tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) I have never seen any explosion like that and I really thought I had seen quite a few. Awful. Always thought fertilizer plants were the most likely place for it to happen mind. Edited August 5, 2020 by KenjiOgiwara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 If it was in a movie nobody would believe it was realistic. Absolutely incredible blast. The death toll will comfortably be in the hundreds I expect, there will be so many that were rushing to the scene to help from the initial “mini” explosion. Awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Checked arms control twitter and pure ammonium nitrate explodes with approximately 50% of the power of TNT. Assuming the material was of a high quality, that means the explosion yesterday was 1 to 1.5 kilotons, or the equivalent of a large tactical nuclear warhead. For reference, the Hiroshima detonation was 15 kilotons. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, Awol said: Checked arms control twitter and pure ammonium nitrate explodes with approximately 50% of the power of TNT. Assuming the material was of a high quality, that means the explosion yesterday was 1 to 1.5 kilotons, or the equivalent of a large tactical nuclear warhead. For reference, the Hiroshima detonation was 15 kilotons. The bomb that the Oklahoma city bombers used in 95 was 2 tons of ammonium nitrate and they destroyed half the federal building. This was supposedly 2750 tons give or take. No wonder the destruction was apocalyptic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted August 5, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2020 6 minutes ago, sne said: The bomb that the Oklahoma city bombers used in 95 was 2 tons of ammonium nitrate and they destroyed half the federal building. This was supposedly 2750 tons give or take. No wonder the destruction was apocalyptic. You can't really compare the two that much. Oklahoma City was a specifically designed bomb using multiple types of explosive, and they ultimately managed to fluke a reaction that made the bomb far more powerful than it might have been otherwise. This appears to have been a massive pile of stuff that has explosive capacity that was ignited. If it had actually been set up to act as a bomb, it would have been worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Just now, Chindie said: You can't really compare the two that much. Oklahoma City was a specifically designed bomb using multiple types of explosive, and they ultimately managed to fluke a reaction that made the bomb far more powerful than it might have been otherwise. This appears to have been a massive pile of stuff that has explosive capacity that was ignited. If it had actually been set up to act as a bomb, it would have been worse. Yeah the China explosion from 2015 is a better comparison I guess but looks quite different since it was at night. But 1000 times more ammonium nitrate than the Oklahoma bomb is really scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Donald Trump is stating that it was a bomb. His very good generals has told him so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Just now, sne said: Donald Trump is stating that it was a bomb. His very good generals has told him so... He means he read it on Twitter but didn’t have the presence of mind to not spread unsubstantiated rumours from his position of authority. The sooner this US presidential experiment is over the better. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Awol Posted August 5, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 minute ago, LondonLax said: The sooner this US presidential experiment is over the better. Exactly. Make America British Again. 1 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 40 minutes ago, Awol said: Exactly. Make America British Again. I'll get my MABA hat out 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 5, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2020 Looking at the devastation this has caused I would not be surprised if the death toll is actually in the thousands. Such a terrible terrible tragedy. Hopefully countries around the world look at this and take strong action on where items of this nature can be stored. It's totally unacceptable for that level of such an explosive material to be anywhere near a build up area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 5, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2020 21 hours ago, Mozzavfc said: What a crazy explosion. I had no idea grain dust is so combustible. You can see the static in the smoke cloud sparking up, which I guess is why people are saying firework factory One of the very first types of property insurance that existed was explosion cover which developed because many flour Mills used to explode frequently. Was a really big problem back in the day and risk management in dusty environments remains a huge focus to this day. Fact is that quantity of that material should not be stored a) in one place and b) anywhere near a population center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 There is a point to be made that ‘actions speak louder than words’. Will be interesting to see what the next steps are for Israel Lebanon relations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OutByEaster? Posted August 5, 2020 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted August 5, 2020 @momo I don't think there's anyone here arguing in favour of Israel or defending its actions in the region in general. This thread is about the explosion and direct reaction to it only. There is a thread here: to discuss the wider politics of the region and as stated in the title the actions of Israel and other parties in the middle east. Please keep this thread to reactions, discussion and information directly related to the explosion in Beirut and leave other discussion in the other thread. A friendly reminder to everyone that Post on Poster is against the site guidelines and will be treated as such - please keep your arguments to the issues. Thank you. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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