Beirut...

[Godson]

Did you guys happen to see what has happened in Lebanon?

Terrible. 50 dead, 3000 + injured.

The videos are terrifying.

[Cam]

Disturbing.

[Jason]

Reddit has all sorts of different angles, and the whole thing is absolutely shocking. The news report I just received on my phone said 50 dead and 2750 injured... which if true seems like a damned miracle.

[JoshInKC]

Yeah, that was a big boom. Apparently a burning warehouse full of fireworks lit off another warehouse containing 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

[FaultyMario]

One explanation compares it to the SS Grandcamp (https://www.britannica.com/event/Texas-City-explosion-of-1947) explosion.

[FaultyMario]

Beirut-based journalist Rania Khalek (https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek) should have some deeper reporting on the ramifications of the event.

[Tom Servo]

Saw NPR reporting that a Lebanese general is saying that the ammonium nitrate was what had been confiscated over the years and had been stored there for six years so far. Not sure who was responsible for identifying where that *should* have been stored, but that's just insane levels of negligence.

Two give a bit of perspective on 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate blowing up, the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing was less than 2.5 tons.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, that was a big boom. Apparently a burning warehouse full of fireworks lit off another warehouse containing 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

Why are they storing all that stuff in the middle of the city?

Anyway, can 2020 get even worse?!?!?!

[FaultyMario]

Not in the middle of the city, it was in the port of Beirut, where the grain silos were. They're expecting food shortages in the following weeks bc of all the foodstuffs that were spoiled.

[G'day Mate]

Holy shit :eek:

[G'day Mate]

The news report I just received on my phone said 50 dead and 2750 injured... which if true seems like a damned miracle.

I imagine they'll be counting them for a while to come

[Tom Servo]

This video was taken about 5-6 miles away from the blast judging by how long it took the pressure wave to reach the camera person. It's a trip watching the clouds start deforming and some start rapidly forming as the wave reaches them.

https://streamable.com/2hmvmi

[Crazed_Insanity]

I wish the dude would stop zooming in and out so that we can see how the shock wave comes to him in the speed of sound...

Anyway, that explosion was unreal... whether accident or act of terrorism... :(

[dodint]

Saw NPR reporting that a Lebanese general is saying that the ammonium nitrate was what had been confiscated over the years and had been stored there for six years so far. Not sure who was responsible for identifying where that *should* have been stored, but that's just insane levels of negligence.

Two give a bit of perspective on 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate blowing up, the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing was less than 2.5 tons.

People hate lawyers here but we tend to suppress this kind of stuff from happening on this scale by punishing negligence pretty enthusiastically.

[JoshInKC]

Two give a bit of perspective on 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate blowing up, the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing was less than 2.5 tons.The OKC bombing was actually an ANFO mixture, which is Ammonium Nitrate + ~6% Fuel Oil, which makes a bigger boom.

[Tom Servo]

Ahh, then I do not have a good way to put it in perspective.

[G'day Mate]

Well how much more explodey does the fuel oil make it?

[FaultyMario]

Well how much more explodey does the fuel oil make it?

Probably enough to not discuss it on a public forum.

[Tom Servo]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/lebanon-explosion-beirut.html

[Crazed_Insanity]

YW is going to hate me more...

Anyway, I’m pretty sure as this story develops, even this incident is going to be another blame game between USA and China! Unbelievable!!!

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/could-lebanon-be-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-us-china-great-power-rivalry-1.1054371

What else can US and China bring to this world? Bring it on! WW3?

I think Lord Jesus is probably ready to make a come back?

[JoshInKC]

Well how much more explodey does the fuel oil make it?

Fairly more explodey, though with a few minutes of googling I was unable to find actual figures. Having had a misspent youth in a small town with easy access to the raw materials necessary for experimentation, I'll tell you that the resulting crater is bigger by a good margin.

[Blerpa]

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

[Crazed_Insanity]

That is really insane amount of ammonium nitrate accumulated over the years... compared to past incidents...

I think the record holder for non-nuclear explosions remains to be Halifax blast... this incident is probably 2/3 the size of that record... pretty damn close. Compared to Hiroshima... this accident is probably 15% of that according to this report: https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-beirut-blast-how-does-yield-of-2750-tonnes-of-ammonium-nitrate-compare-against-halifax-explosion-hiroshima-bombing-2836137

[JoshInKC]

So I had a conversation with my friend who did EOD in the army rangers for a number of years. Apparently perfect ammonium nitrate under ideal conditions results in an explosion at 20% of straight tnt, where ANFO is more like 35-38%. The relevant materials in beirut likely resulted in something like 12% of tnt, as it degrades in heat an over time while also becoming more unstable.