After a blast in a civilian area, emergency responders arenât the only heroes. On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion blasted deadly waves through downtown Beirut. On Tuesday evening in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, two huge explosions in its port sent an enormous blast wave across the city, killing at least 137 … Thankfully, we know this blast did not produce a shock because the speed of the water-vapor-filled white dome can be measured. But in the meantime, between those who filmed the blast and the application of physics, we can prevent any escalation of conspiracy theories or misunderstandings. Four officials accused of negligence in connection with explosion at port, which killed more than 200 people, Business is strong for glaziers but the mood among most rescuers and residents is sombre, Lebanon’s club scene was perhaps the most vibrant in the Middle East, but the explosion that rocked its capital last month has silenced it. And nitrate, when mixed to blow, wants to ditch those little Os. In an explosion, however, the devilish little instigator that is oxygen shoves the process into overdrive. Oxygen is the key to ammonium nitrateâs deadly habit of exploding, and given that 47 known, major, accidental ammonium nitrate explosions have occured in the last century, it is undeniably a habit. The increased pressure and flow resulting from the deposition of a large amount of energy in a small, very localised volume. Many explosive materials give off tints and hues during a blast that suggest their chemical compositionâchemical additives to color both smoke and explosions have been around since before the 1920s and are how we get different-colored fireworks and signaling flaresâand itâs nitrogen dioxide that gives an ammonium nitrate explosion its signature, ominous blood-like tone. Massive blast in Beirut sends shockwaves across city A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 5, … The detonation of the first atomic weaponry above Hiroshima occurred almost exactly 75 years ago to the day, and despite its historically unprecedented trauma to the city and populace, it left behind no crater. According to Brad Wojtylak, a special agent bomb technician and certified explosive specialist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, when smoke plumes are large enough, they begin to catch the sunlight, and refraction will darken the normal colors produced by any explosion. Buckland treated casualties following a natural gas explosion in Durham, North Carolina, in 2019 which, while substantially smaller in size, occurred in a densely populated downtown area. Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, said the cause of the explosion was 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. In a campfire, where the chemical reactions are facilitated in a leisurely way by the oxygen in the air alone, energy is released slowly as enjoyable levels of heat and light. Every fire is a rearrangement of molecules, and an explosion is basically a fire turbocharged into a hyper-energy-fueled frenzy. Then by the time the audible crash and mayhem reached the formerly peaceful and picturesque outdoor bar, it had slowed to at most 289 meters per second. Just after 9 am on December 6, 1917, in Halifax, mustachioed 45-year-old train dispatcher Vincent Coleman knew the lazy plume of smoke coming from the explosive-laden vessel in Halifax harbor was a terrifying portent of worse to come. As an aside, nuclear weaponry is set to detonate several hundred feet above ground level, and therefore doesnât exert enough force directly on the soil to create a crater. The ground beneath him shook. I traced one of the Beirut videos posted by, 6 million-pound Halifax explosion of 1917. At 120 meters in diameter, following the explosion of 4.1 million kilos of ammonium nitrate, the size of the Oppau crater supports the idea that the Beirut pier, which early reports said held only 2,750 metric tonsâ2.75 million kilogramsâmay have held some number of millions more kilograms of charge. Beirut - A huge explosion near the centre of Beirut killed at least 10 people and sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, shattering glass in people's homes and … Beirut blast: Confiscated ammonium nitrate from ship in 2014 could have sparked deadly explosion. Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud said as many as 300,000 people had been made temporarily homeless and that collective losses might reach $10-15bn (£8-11bn). The massive explosion in Beirut’s port on Tuesday shattered windows more than a mile away and sent a plume of smoke and debris soaring above the city’s tallest buildings. But their excess energy has to go somewhere. 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