Explosion in Beruit

Woahhhh that was pretty gnarly. Hope the death toll is not as bad as one might assume...
 
Hmmmm ... supposedly 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate? While not a true explosive alone it’s oxidation properties sure work in mining and such when mixed with other components and ignited.

If true ... why were they storing that much of that stuff there?
 
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My brother former EOD says it sure looked a lot like that was a guided missile with at least a 2,000lb payload second explosion. That the red smoke was probably a redish clay sand they have in that region. But then again he smoked a ton of pot and it's been 30 years since he did that stuff.
 
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5 minutes compilation from different angles

In some of these clips that are close-up, you can see the little explosions going off inside the smoke before the big blast, like the initial fire is fireworks. I guess it could be rounds of ammunition, but it looks like fireworks.
 
Wow, play it at .25 speed. Wonder if this was an underground covert weapon assembly plant.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Maybe that is where all the rockets were being fueled that certain groups use in that area.
 
Some of those views from further back you can see the blast pushing clouds away, that’s crazy.
It’s really a sad situation a lot of people died and injured.
 
A grain silo, if not properly maintained, say by a bunch of Islamic terrorists that have no clue what to do and are, as a culture pretty lazy unless there is something in it for them, can explode spectacularly. The dust they create is extremely flammable and basically makes a fuel air bomb. A single spark can cause one to explode. And fuel air bombs are devastating.

Like an empty fuel tank, empty grain storage bins are not to be played with.
 
This clip has a couple of views that I hadn't seen on others - a couple taken from on the water.

 
I might sound stupid but I don't follow. Do they like to blow up?


Go outside.

Take a small straw.

Dip it it corn starch about an inch.

Blow the straw through a candle flame from a couple feet back.

Now picture that fine mist followed by the bright flash contained in a metal structure.
 
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I might sound stupid but I don't follow. Do they like to blow up?

Gas itself doesn't burn, the vapor does. Grain itself doesn't burn either, the dust does. An empty gas can is full of vapor and an empty grain bin is full of dust so yes, they can blow up.
 
Go outside.

Take a small straw.

Dip it it corn starch about an inch.

Blow the straw through a candle flame from a couple feet back.

Now picture that fine mist followed by the bright flash contained in a metal structure.
Gas itself doesn't burn, the vapor does. Grain itself doesn't burn either, the dust does. An empty gas can is full of vapor and an empty grain bin is full of dust so yes, they can blow up.

See ya'll I never knew corn starch or powder was flammable. That makes total sense that it would go boom then. Knowing is half the battle.
 
I might sound stupid but I don't follow. Do they like to blow up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_explosion

I still vividly remember the demonstration my Chemistry teacher did back in high school (circa 1991) with talcum powder and the fireball it produced!! Kids these days miss out on the super fun stuff in Chem and Science.

I know when I went through college in the mid 90's they had already pulled almost all the (previously common knowledge) pyrotechnic info out of text books.

Hmmmm ... supposedly 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate? While not a true explosive alone it’s oxidation properties sure work in mining and such when mixed with other components and ignited.

If true ... why were they storing that much of that stuff there?

I think the ANFO is starting down the pathway of truth, but I have a feeling there was a little something else (HE) mixed in to cause that BIG of a BOOM!!:D
 
I'm going with potassium nitrate. If there's already a fire and it's heated it becomes unstable and potentially explosive. Happened in west Texas several years ago.

Just a gentle fix: => West, TX. Not "West TX."

Only being fussy as I've been there a few times: good folk with a strong historically Czech immigrant population. Kolache are incredible.
 
Just a gentle fix: => West, TX. Not "West TX."

Only being fussy as I've been there a few times: good folk with a strong historically Czech immigrant population. Kolache are incredible.

My phone doesn't like punctuation and I'm tired of fighting with it.
 
Go outside.

Take a small straw.

Dip it it corn starch about an inch.

Blow the straw through a candle flame from a couple feet back.

Now picture that fine mist followed by the bright flash contained in a metal structure.
Ah, back when science in school was fun! I vaguely remember an experiment where I made a toxic gas in class. My flask was noticeably higher concentration than the other students. The teacher told me to stop, slide it under the hood and crack the cover just a little and let it sit. Then there was the time I got hold of some potassium permanganate out of the lab store room...
 
“Currently, it appears that the explosion in Lebanon was not the result of a military strike,” Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense Democracies, told the network. “For now, this explosion appears to be the result of ineptitude.”
 
Ah, back when science in school was fun! I vaguely remember an experiment where I made a toxic gas in class. My flask was noticeably higher concentration than the other students. The teacher told me to stop, slide it under the hood and crack the cover just a little and let it sit. Then there was the time I got hold of some potassium permanganate out of the lab store room...

Hahaha!!! That potassium permanganate & some glycerin makes fantastic fires. I got in so much trouble in Chemistry, creating fires & explosions.
 
Hahaha!!! That potassium permanganate & some glycerin makes fantastic fires. I got in so much trouble in Chemistry, creating fires & explosions.
We used to make "candies". A little potassium permanganate, a little glycerin in a little scrap of paper. You roll it up and twist it like a toffee to apply pressure. Once it started to make it sizzle, you tossed it. It would burst into flame.
What was that stuff, potassium iodide maybe? After mixing it correctly with something else, you could paint it on a surface and it was terribly unstable.
 
My family has an old war story that involved blowing up a barracks with a 5 lb sack of flour.

We also happen to be farmers and own a lot of grain bins. Have fallen off them, have never blown one up, but it does happen.
 
Go outside.

Take a small straw.

Dip it it corn starch about an inch.

Blow the straw through a candle flame from a couple feet back.

Now picture that fine mist followed by the bright flash contained in a metal structure.
Haha! One of my dad's stupider moves- I was ~7, he hands me a straw he stuck in flour and told me to blow it into the toasty fireplace in our living room. The first 3 times nothing happened, then the fireball that darkened the ceiling and the knowledge a 7 year old that just had to show his friends.
 
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Ah, back when science in school was fun! I vaguely remember an experiment where I made a toxic gas in class. My flask was noticeably higher concentration than the other students. The teacher told me to stop, slide it under the hood and crack the cover just a little and let it sit. Then there was the time I got hold of some potassium permanganate out of the lab store room...

Indeed!

Our junior high school chemistry lab was stocked with an amazing assortment of chemicals.

I did a demo for my fellow classmates and budding chemists/pyros about catalysts. This involved ground up iodine crystals and aluminum dust (these were in a middle school chem lab, why??) with a few drops of water. I wonder if the dark maroon stain is still on the ceiling (we all bailed outside because of the fumes)

We later discovered that due to my budding interest in "science" I could order chemicals from the same supply house that provided the schools labs supplies. Oh heavenly days! No parents involved, and wholesale prices too, conveniently drop shipped to the school. YAY!

This lasted until the 2nd order , which IIRC was a pound of potassium chlorate and a big jug of aluminum dust.

Fortunately, because of the extremely poor judgment of the "Accelerated Science" teacher and her desire for continued employment, this never got reported, but the ordering priv's were revoked.
 
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This is the closest ive seen... probably a recorded livestream where dude didnt survive.
 


This is the closest ive seen... probably a recorded livestream where dude didnt survive.

WHY do females continue to scream and add to the chaos even after an event takes place?!? Shut up so folks that can think will be able to hear whats going on, give & hear directions, and hear cries for help.
 
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