Beirut blast - how extraordinary?

I'm not expert on explosions but I've never seen one like this before, wonder what happened there?

Worth a look -

Incredible pictures . Took me back to my army days when I was a Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical, (NBC), instructor. Saw lots of videos about nuclear explosions, and they started of just like that. Scared the hell out of me.

We're just watching the brilliant "Chernobyl" for the first time. The incredible recreation of that disaster for a TV audience, years after the event, shocks us to the core, but no more so than this new horror captured in detail on news bulletins. Hard to see how Beirut can recover.

The news is saying there was 2750 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse so was it an accident or has someone used it as a bomb?

I'm sure I read somewhere that it was caused by a welder in the warehouse?

Still early days yet though to find out the truth.

It's definitely not a nuclear bomb or it would be all over the news by now.

Apart from the mushroom cloud effect the other think I noticed was that there was white smoke rising before the explosion and black smoke afterwards that makes me thing two different things were on fire, something before the explosion and maybe that still but also something different as well after it also?

The damage done to the surrounding area - knocking over buildings etc - must have taken a massive amount of force so whatever the explosion was, was a very powerful one.

I read this on the BBC news site -

British former intelligence officer Philip Ingram told the BBC's Today programme that ammonium nitrate could only be turned into an explosive substance under certain circumstances.

Mr Ingram said that safely stored it was relatively safe but that in confined space and when contaminated with items such as fuel oil it could cause an explosion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53659282

Maybe there was an initial fire and it and it set of some stored oil which in turn triggered the nitrate?

At least it would explain the black smoke if oil was burning afterwards?

Obviously feel sorry for all those caught up in this.

I read that the ammonium nitrate had been confiscated from a ship and had been stored there for over a year. Who in their right mind stores 2750 tonnes of explosive in a port?

More like six years!

13:01
Officials 'asked for ammonium nitrate to be moved'

The highly explosive substance blamed for Tuesday's blast was meant to be moved, the port's general manager has told local broadcaster OTV.

Hassan Koraytem said the ammonium nitrate had been in the port for six years, following a court order.

But, despite instructions from the customs department and state secretary to move or export it, "nothing happened", he told the broadcaster.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-53664184


What caused the mushroom cloud?

Videos from Beirut showed smoke billowing from a fire, and then a mushroom cloud following the blast.

"You have a supersonic shockwave that is travelling through the air, and you can see that in the white spherical cloud which travels out from the centre, expanding upwards," says Prof Sella.

The shockwave is produced from compressed air, he explains. "The air expands rapidly and cools suddenly and the water condenses, which causes the cloud," he adds.

How dangerous is ammonium nitrate?

On its own, ammonium nitrate is relatively safe to handle, says Prof Sella.
However, if you have a large amount of material lying around for a long time it begins to decay.

"The real problem is that over time it will absorb little bits of moisture and it eventually turns into an enormous rock," he says. This makes it more dangerous, he adds, because it means if there is a shock, it will spread much more easily.

The longer it is left, the more likely it will get contaminated with items such as fuel oil, former senior military intelligence officer Philip Ingram told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Once that happens it can produce a reaction in the chemical. "It generates its own heat and, once it's started, it continues to generate it and that will build up over time," Mr Ingram says. "That could then lead to the high-order explosion that we saw in those horrific videos that came out of Beirut."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53664064

You must be a simpleton to believe that this was ammonium nitrate. This was a missile attack

Boggersbelief wrote:You must be a simpleton to believe that this was ammonium nitrate. This was a missile attack

Must be if you say so Boggers

Think you posted in the wring thread Boggers.

https://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/t21103-conspiracy-theories

I’ve seen video evidence