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Massive explosion in Beirut

23K views 196 replies 57 participants last post by  SoJ_51 
#1 ·
Not sure if it had been posted yet or not but apparently a massive set of explosions went off in a port in Beirut. The port is basically gone... building had windows, doors, and balconies blown to pieces miles from the blast.

The initial blast was small.. the 2nd blast sent up a mushroom cloud and a massive pressure wave.

People on the ground reporting windows blown from buildings 10km from the site.

I'll post up more vids as I find them.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220

https://youtu.be/aLUQr7gdiLQ

https://youtu.be/93tV6-0Ugwk

 
#12 ·
#14 ·
Unless the embassy was made of matchsticks... I assure you, it's still there.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1290675854767513600

This video was probably taken from ~1.3-1.4km away. You can see the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in the bottom left corner which is almost exactly 1km from the blast. Flash-to-Bang was about 3.5 to 4 seconds... which @343 m/s is in that same ballpark.

Didn't look like there was any glass on the floor nor did I hear any glass break in that video, so well under 1 psi at 1.4km.
 
#27 ·
I just saw this on a news feed and checked in here.

I haven't had time to process it, and literally jumped when the big boom went off. I was not expecting that.

My impulsive guess is some sort of illicit munitions factory. You could see large singular explosions within the major fire, and them "kaboom." Followed by a mushroom and shockwaves. That is a release of a lot of energy.

Maybe nitrates, maybe fertilizer, I'm not an expert, but it seems like munitions grade whatever...
 
#28 ·
It was like a little mini Texas City explosion. That was in 1947.

There were 2 like this at the Naval munitions plant in my state back in the 40s. One blew a 550 ft long by 220 ft wide by 50 ft deep crater and the big one blew up a building and train load of munitions while damaging buildings 15 miles away. Not many people were killed because they were located out in the middle of nowhere on 75 acres.

It looks like fireworks in the building in Lebanon, but who knows for certain. Whatever it was, they stacked too much of it in one place. But these types of explosions have been happening for almost a century.

Longer if you count the explosions that have happened on purpose.
 
#66 ·
I lost a 1st cousin, 1x removed, "my great grandparents grandson" in the Texas City blast, his name was Haskell Thomas Sargent and I have a pic of his headstone. My mother was only 6 when that happened and she has told me several stories of when my grandparents and other relatives got the news and how they reacted. It has been reported that between 500 to 600 were killed and thousands were injured.

Here is a clip showing the explosion.

 
#32 ·
Reading through twitter, Lebanese TV is reporting that the explosion was from 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was being stored in a warehouse. Apparently, they were using a torch to seal the building and prevent theft?

The Texas City explosion was 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate in the first explosion and then another ship exploded and some refineries burned.

Lebanese TV station reporting “early information” that 2700 tons of seized ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut port. In 1947, the Texas City disaster involved 2200 tons of nitrate — and it caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history
https://twitter.com/BazziNYU/status/1290752400316301314?s=19
 
#34 ·
Reading through twitter, Lebanese TV is reporting that the explosion was from 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was being stored in a warehouse. Apparently, they were using a torch to seal the building and prevent theft?

The Texas City explosion was 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate in the first explosion and then another ship exploded and some refineries burned.



https://twitter.com/BazziNYU/status/1290752400316301314?s=19
That'd do it.:eek:
 
#33 ·
Apparently they confiscated it 6 years ago and have stored it in the port since.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220

Politicians are launching an investigation into the matter to see who's at fault. :rolleyes:

Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years.

President Michel Aoun tweeted it was "unacceptable" that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely.

An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion.
 
#37 ·
Okay, that explains why I was off when I was trying to extrapolate the yield from the effects distances...

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...ions-of-10-t-300-t-and-1-000-t_fig2_290749141

AN is about 32% (a separate source said 42%) as effective as TNT in converting it's mass to energy.


So there you go... if you ever wanted to know the rough blast effects for a terrorist's ~2.5 kt improvised nuclear weapon... you just witnessed them. Blast is about 50% of the total yield. A 2.5 kt nuke will release 50% of its energy as blast (1.25 kt blast yield).
 
#45 ·
It's possible that it was this company....
Nope.. Occams' razor has the scoop:

:taped:

What, besides a nuclear bomb could do this?
...As-reported, 2700+ tons of AN.. and Fire.. (..or Was it-just.. :eek: TBD, I guess..

https://twitter.com/HamdiAlkhshali/status/1290763867178569728 ..Not 'just fireworks', Ppl.. Go watch some 'AN det' vids, then you'll know..

Another that shows the 'scale' of this mini-Krakatoa... (~0:23) Wow..

..ya - Not 'fireworks', peeps.. AN is No-joke..

.03
jd
 
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