Explosion in Beirut

[nkypete]

I saw some video from CNN that shows overturned cars on balconies several floors up.

[punttheball]

1 hour ago, DragonFire said:

I’ve read they estimate 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate. 
 

For scale, the Oklahoma City bombing utilized 2 tons. The scope of this explosion is really hard to take in. 

For reference, the 1947 Texas City disaster had 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded.

If that is what was involved in this incident.

[PP1]

MY grandparents are from Beirut. I still have cousins there. I hear it is one of the most gorgeous countries in the world. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most dangerous.

[TheDeuce]

If you watch videos from the fertilizer plant explosion in near Waco, the clouds after the blast look very similar. 

[Bluegrasscard]

Very good collection of videos.   Warning applies. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCSQXzGhVj0&feature=emb_logo

Go to 3:08.  The initial pressure wave is definitely supersonic as damage occurs well before sound arrives. 

What causes that?  CWB nailed it....

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

Quote

High-order explosives (HE) are more powerful than low-order explosives (LE). HE detonate to produce a defining supersonic over-pressurization shock wave. Several sources of HE include trinitrotoluene, C-4, Semtex, nitroglycerin, and ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO).

ANFO:

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

 

[sportsfan41]

3 hours ago, DragonFire said:

I’ve read they estimate 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate. 
 

For scale, the Oklahoma City bombing utilized 2 tons. The scope of this explosion is really hard to take in. 

It seems like something of this magnitude needs drone/helicopter footage to really capture the extent of the damage.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

15 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

It seems like something of this magnitude needs drone/helicopter footage to really capture the extent of the damage.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

The second picture has an arrow pointing to the city's grain reserve located next to the warehouse that blew. The area in the last picture circled in red shows the former location of the warehouse. A lot of the blast was directed down into the ground, to the extent that it formed an enormous crater larger than the warehouse and the crater has now been swallowed up by sea water. Crazy.

 

 

 

[TheDeuce]

As bad as that explosion was, imagine if the force wasn't able to go down and create that crater... Would have been exponentially worse.