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Author Topic: Big Boom  (Read 9155 times)

cordex

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #25 on: August 05, 2020, 07:23:36 AM »
Quote from: Mike Irwin on August 05, 2020, 07:18:23 AM
Any pictures of the aftermath of the area available yet? Be interesting to see what the destruction level is.







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230RN

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #26 on: August 05, 2020, 07:51:42 AM »
What's tragimusing is the notion that it couldn't be terrorism because it is all quite natural to store huge amounts of 'splody stuff near the docks.

Riiiiight.  Couldn't be terrorism simply because of that fact.

Yikes.
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WLJ

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #27 on: August 05, 2020, 08:59:59 AM »
Quote from: 230RN on August 05, 2020, 07:51:42 AM
What's tragimusing is the notion that it couldn't be terrorism because it is all quite natural to store huge amounts of 'splody stuff near the docks.

Riiiiight.  Couldn't be terrorism simply because of that fact.

Yikes.

When 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate went boom in Texas

Texas City disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
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HankB

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #28 on: August 05, 2020, 09:03:20 AM »
A news story said the nickname for the port of Beirut is "The Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" because of the rampant corruption that goes on there.

I read that a Russian-owned cargo ship loaded with ammonium nitrate sailed into Beirut ~6 years ago for reasons that aren't quite clear, and Lebanese authorities seized the cargo and stored it. A port or customs official had been writing multiple letters to "authorities" for years pleading for help in disposing of this dangerous stuff, but was ignored.

Wonder who they're going to scapegoat.
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WLJ

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #29 on: August 05, 2020, 09:04:01 AM »
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MechAg94

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #30 on: August 05, 2020, 09:16:44 AM »
Quote from: WLJ on August 05, 2020, 08:59:59 AM
When 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate went boom in Texas

Texas City disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
So you are saying there is a war on in Lebanon. 

There was also the smaller explosion in West, Texas.  The video I saw on it said it was sloppy storage and failure to keep chemical separated. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Fertilizer_Company_explosion
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MechAg94

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #31 on: August 05, 2020, 09:42:26 AM »
I heard someone speculating that this was Iranian missiles meant to be fired on Israel.  Plausible, but no evidence.   =D
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makattak

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #32 on: August 05, 2020, 10:06:23 AM »
Quote from: HankB on August 05, 2020, 09:03:20 AM
A news story said the nickname for the port of Beirut is "The Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" because of the rampant corruption that goes on there.

I read that a Russian-owned cargo ship loaded with ammonium nitrate sailed into Beirut ~6 years ago for reasons that aren't quite clear, and Lebanese authorities seized the cargo and stored it. A port or customs official had been writing multiple letters to "authorities" for years pleading for help in disposing of this dangerous stuff, but was ignored.

Wonder who they're going to scapegoat.

The guy who's been writing letters for years. OBVIOUSLY. (Especially if he's dead.)
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K Frame

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #33 on: August 05, 2020, 10:09:58 AM »
Whoo doggie there are THOUSANDS of "explosives experts" on Facebook this morning sharing their knowledge...  :rofl:

Best one I've seen?

That was a mininuke delivered by an Isralie midget submarine!

 :facepalm:
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bedlamite

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #34 on: August 05, 2020, 10:12:44 AM »
Quote from: Mike Irwin on August 05, 2020, 10:09:58 AM
Whoo doggie there are THOUSANDS of "explosives experts" on Facebook this morning sharing their knowledge...  :rofl:

Best one I've seen?

That was a mininuke delivered by an Isralie midget submarine!

 :facepalm:

My favorite are the ones that say it's a DEW from Trumps Space Force.
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #35 on: August 05, 2020, 10:15:33 AM »
Quote from: Mike Irwin on August 05, 2020, 10:09:58 AM
Whoo doggie there are THOUSANDS of "explosives experts" on Facebook this morning sharing their knowledge...  :rofl:

Best one I've seen?

That was a mininuke delivered by an Isralie midget submarine!

 :facepalm:

Obama would already be declaring sanctions and calling for a UN vote to denounce it
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #36 on: August 05, 2020, 10:15:43 AM »
Quote from: Mike Irwin on August 05, 2020, 07:18:23 AM
Any pictures of the aftermath of the area available yet? Be interesting to see what the destruction level is.


It's Destruction Level BFC (Big Friggin' Crater)

Army uses RE of 0.42 for ammonium nitrate so 2,700 tons NH4NO3 are roughly equivalent to 1150 tons of TNT. Also, the tonnage quoted is likely metric tons. Converted for us non-metric types, this equates to 2970 standard tons NH4NO3 and appx 1250 standard tons TNT.

That's a lot of "POOF!".

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K Frame

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #37 on: August 05, 2020, 10:18:10 AM »
Caught some overflight video running on CNN this morning.

Jesus. Just Jesus.
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #38 on: August 05, 2020, 10:34:38 AM »
Just out of curiosity I looked up whats the lowest yield nuke warhead and it looks like the W54 wins at 10 to 1,000 tons TNT equivalent.  
A variant of the warhead was used on the Davy Crockett. 10-20 tons equivalent
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #39 on: August 05, 2020, 11:42:16 AM »
"Before" overhead of the of area from Google Maps.

https://goo.gl/maps/qBpdAwqhnhAemJMDA

Based on the Google Maps embedded scale, I measure the elevator at roughly 450' long. Using aerial views of the crater I measure it at roughly 50% wider than the length of the elevator ... about 675 feet. Applying a general rule of thumb normally used for impact craters gives a guesstimated depth of approximately 220 ft. Call it 175 feet to account for the damping effects of water mass.

Brad
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #40 on: August 05, 2020, 11:54:03 AM »
Amazed that elevator is still, somewhat, standing
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #41 on: August 05, 2020, 11:55:14 AM »
Did Trump really say it was a bomb?
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #42 on: August 05, 2020, 11:57:18 AM »
Quote from: WLJ on August 05, 2020, 11:54:03 AM
Amazed that elevator is still, somewhat, standing

Concrete elevators are tough critters, especially when pressure waves are exterior rather than interior. A bunch of steel-reinforced concrete cylinders grouped together makes for a damned solid structure.

Brad
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #43 on: August 05, 2020, 11:57:51 AM »
The elevator blocking a lot of the blast may have saved a bunch of people
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WLJ

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #44 on: August 05, 2020, 11:59:43 AM »
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K Frame

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #45 on: August 05, 2020, 12:03:29 PM »
I'm surprised that neither of those ships was sunk.
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K Frame

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #46 on: August 05, 2020, 12:06:47 PM »
If you take a close look at the after picture, any number of those grain silo cylinders have been completely blown apart.
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HankB

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #47 on: August 05, 2020, 12:12:19 PM »
Wonder if that grain elevator didn't mitigate at least a little of the shock wave for those in its "shadow" . . . not enough to save any nearby buildings on that little peninsula, but maybe those a kilometer or more away.
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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #48 on: August 05, 2020, 12:34:50 PM »
It likely mitigated a LOT of the shock wave for things in its shadow. It absorbed some of it and redirected a lot more of it.
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zxcvbob

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Re: Big Boom
« Reply #49 on: August 05, 2020, 12:41:12 PM »
I saw an article earlier today about this on either Forbes or Bloomberg that had a lot of technical information about AN and about explosives in general -- and it was all wrong.  Also was barely relevant to the story.
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