A devastating explosion of an enormous amount of ammonium nitrate killed more than 200 people and injured at least 6,000 at the port of Beirut on the … Though ammonium nitrate was first synthesized in 1659 by German chemist Johann Rudolf Glauber, it wasn’t used in explosives until World War I, when weapon makers mixed it with TNT (aka dynamite) to make cheaper bombs. This recent tragedy is devastating, and unfortunately, it’s not the first time this dangerous chemical compound has caused widespread damage. In 1921, about 4,500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate caused an explosion at a plant in Oppau, Germany, killing more than 500 people The deadliest industrial accident in … Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is a red, bad-smelling gas. While these alternatives have helped, it is important to note that unintended impurities in the manufacturing process may reduce its stability or facilitate explosion. An ammonium nitrate explosion produces massive amounts of nitrogen oxides. This recent tragedy is devastating, and unfortunately, it’s not the first time this dangerous chemical compound has caused widespread damage. Cell phone videos also show the shockwave and dust cloud rushing through the portside buildings, leaving behind scenes of carnage in the Lebanese capital. Piling up large amounts of ammonium nitrate allows more heat to be contained for longer when a mixture burns. But for the compound to figure in an explosion of this magnitude, chemists and explosives experts say a lot has to go wrong. Investigators confirmed that ammonium nitrate was … Lebanon explosion: What is ammonium nitrate, which authorities claim to be behind the blast AFP Washington, August 05, 2020 08:54 IST Updated: August 05, … When combined with fuel oils, ammonium nitrate creates a potent explosive widely used by the construction industry, but also by insurgent groups like the Taliban for improvised explosives. Bags containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer are dispalyed in an agricultural trader in Vieillevigne, France, October 7, 2016. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/08/deadly-history-ammonium-nitrate-explosive-linked-to-beirut-blast.html, math pioneered in the 1940s to infer the atomic bomb’s yield. It was used by white supremacists to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla. in 1995. The chemicals reportedly have been sitting by the docks since 2013. It also destroyed Texas City in 1947 and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. It has been the cause of previous industrial accidents, and an ingredient in acts of terrorism as well. Seventy-five years later, National Geographic revisits the elusive horror of Hiroshima. It was carrying 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, an industrial chemical commonly used around the world as a fertilizer -- and in explosives for mining. Any carbon-rich fuel—paper, cardboard, or even sugar—can pair with ammonium nitrate to produce more intense energy. What leveled Beirut on Tuesday sounds eerily similar to descriptions of a massive 1947 explosion in Texas City, Texas. 559 Menschen wurden durch die Explosionen getötet und … If the name sounds familiar it's because the chemical is notorious. It’s known to predispose people to the worst effects of respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. Or, this discrepancy might mean that the material inside the warehouse was not pure ammonium nitrate, and some other compound was involved with the blast. Experts believe the cause of the explosion is linked to 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at a warehouse at the port in Lebanon's capital since 2014. The biggest ammonium nitrate explosion that has taken place was the Texas City explosion on April 16, 1947. Smoke rising after the explosion in Beirut. In 1947, an explosion in Texas City, Texas, killed at least 581 people and wounded 3,500 after two cargo ships carrying ammonium nitrate caught fire. That bomb, the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast, has a net explosive weight of 18,700 pounds or roughly 9.35 tons of TNT, according to data from the U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center. If subjected to fire in such bulk quantities, and in a semi-contained environment like a warehouse, the potential for detonation is strong. Ammonium nitrate: what is it and why did it cause the blast in Beirut? The cargo ship Grandcamp was in Texas City harbor being loaded when a fire was detected in the hold. What detonated the explosive compound remains unclear—but the Beirut blast is not the first time ammonium nitrate has led to calamity. Images from Beirut reveal a … (Seventy-five years later, National Geographic revisits the elusive horror of Hiroshima.). Auch die Druckwelle aus Beirut sei laut Medienberichten noch im 200 km entfernten Zypern zu spüren gewesen. “As I … Large quantities of stored ammonium nitrate are regarded as a major fire hazard, with multiple reported cases across the world. If the name sounds familiar it's because the chemical is notorious. When combined with fuel oils, ammonium nitrate creates a potent explosive widely used by the construction industry, but also by insurgent groups like the Taliban for improvised explosives. September 1921 im Werk der Badischen Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik in Oppau, das heute zu Ludwigshafen am Rhein gehört. Look closely at footage of downtown Beirut, and you can see the ground warp and buckle just after the blast erupted from the warehouse on August 4. powerful explosion that devastated the city. Other health issues, akin to those seen after 9/11, may emerge given the widespread destruction to buildings and roads. Ammonium nitrate appears to be the cause of the huge explosion that has left large parts of Beirut ruined and at least 100 people dead. Maritime traffic services and documents obtained by CNN describe a shipment of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that was detained in Beirut in … And in 2001, an enormous ammonium nitrate explosion at a factory in Toulouse, France, resulted in the shattering of windows and apartments across wide swaths of the city. An explosion occurred in a warehouse storing some 300 metric tons of ammonium nitrate in the southern French city of Toulouse. This week, a massive explosion involving ammonium nitrate rocked the city of Beirut, sending shock waves through the media.. According to the Lebanese government, about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer was stored in a warehouse on the Beirut waterfront and caught fire, later exploding. In 2013, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, caught fire and exploded, killing 15 people. “Ammonium nitrate is derived from the reaction between ammonia and nitric acid. Nearby stores of … There are several documented examples of deadly ammonium nitrate fire and explosion incidents in the past, some with large numbers of fatalities like in China in 2015 and in Texas in 1947. Many Americans were introduced to the dangers of ammonium nitrate from the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla. by white supremacists in 1995. The ammonium and nitrate molecules break down, and a large amount of oxygen gas is suddenly formed. Fireworks and ammonium nitrate appear to have been the fuel that ignited a massive explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut, experts and videos of the blast suggest. “All kinds of other materials probably ignited and burned,” says Beaudoin. The monster explosion that destroyed a good bit of Beirut was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of the fertilizer ammonium nitrate – a ghastly amount of one seriously scary chemical. The blast filled Beirut’s air with particulate matter, one of the most common forms of air pollution. Ammonium nitrate is the ammonium salt derived from nitric acid, a corrosive substance which is toxic when inhaled. Even a small amount of contamination would have made the ammonium nitrate more likely to detonate. There were 2600 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on board. Such investigations may take time. There were 2,750 tons of the fertilizer in the Beirut warehouse, roughly equivalent to 1,155 tons of TNT, which would produce a large enough blast wave to destroy most buildings within around 800 feet, and would shatter glass far beyond a range of 1.25 miles. In these cases (e.g., an explosion in 1977), the explosions of ammonium nitrate occurred as a result of excessively high temperatures and confinement during processing. Aluminum sulfate has also been used as a drying additive for ammonium nitrate. Rescuers searched for survivors in Beirut in the morning after a cataclysmic explosion at the port sowed devastation across entire neighbourhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and plunging Lebanon deeper into crisis. In 2013, ammonium nitrate caused a deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. It has some military applications as well. The decomposition temperature of pure ammonium nitrate is 170 °C, but recently Gunawan and Zhang [6] calculated that an intimate mixture of ammonium nitrate and pyrite can decompose at temperatures as low as 50 °C in blast holes more than 0.2 m in diameter. 2,750 tons of the chemical that had been stored in a Beirut warehouse blew up, killing dozens of people and injuring many more In the Beirut explosion, the resulting shockwave moved faster than the speed of sound; cell phone videos show the impact washing over the city a few seconds before a sonic boom rumbles. An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the surrounding area on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in recent history, according to Brian Castner, lead weapons investigator for Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team. Ammonium nitrate would only explode on its own if its temperature was rapidly raised to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The monster explosion that destroyed a good bit of Beirut was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of the fertilizer ammonium nitrate – a ghastly amount of one seriously scary chemical. When something burns, it requires oxygen—that’s why fire extinguishers can easily put out flames by smothering them. Solution for Ammonium nitrate is an explosive and a fertilizer. But the Beirut explosion was far smaller than the 15,000-ton TNT equivalent of the smallest nuclear weapon ever used in war, which was dropped on Hiroshima 75 years ago this Thursday. While intended to foil attempted sabotage, the regulations tightly control movements and storage of hazardous materials like ammonium nitrate for reasons of general public safety. A more likely explanation is that the ammonium nitrate in Beirut was not alone inside the warehouse. Ammonium nitrate is used in fertilizer and in the mining industry as an explosive to blast rock and move mounds of earth. And just five years ago, an estimated 800 tons of ammonium nitrate fueled a warehouse explosion that leveled part of a port in the Chinese city of Tianjin, killing 173. Ammonium nitrate, by itself, is relatively harmless. And just five years ago, an estimated 800 tons of ammonium nitrate fueled a warehouse explosion that leveled part of a port in the Chinese city of Tianjin, killing 173. “There’s a massive amount of energy given off very quickly,” says Stephen Beaudoin, a chemical engineer also at Purdue University. It is the main component of explosive used in mining activities all over the world and hasn’t been banned as reported. But how can such a chemical cause such a massive and destructive blast? Documents unearthed by Al Jazeera say the ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut aboard a Russian-owned cargo ship after the vessel experienced mechanical problems at sea. Though Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, estimates it’s probably closer to 400 tons. Videos captured the toll of the deadly blast in Beirut that killed dozens of people and injured thousands. The deadly explosion in Beirut, and the reddish plumes of smoke that followed, showed telltale signs of an ammonium nitrate blast, experts said. Hence, the standard ammonium nitrate explosive mixture is termed ANFO, for an “ammonium nitrate fuel oil” mixture. The ammonium nitrate never made it to Mozambique, the source said, and instead was kept in a container at Beirut's port for over six years before exploding earlier this week. [screaming] [smaller explosions] [giant blast] [alarms] [alarms] [crying]. Given that these back-of-the-envelope calculations come with a wide margin of error, the estimate is consistent with the 2,750 tons that Lebanese officials say was stored by the port. Ammonium nitrate stored at site of massive Beirut explosion: Officials At least 70 are dead and more than 3,500 are injured, authorities say. On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, eighteen miles north of Waco, while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. The S.S. Grandcamp—carrying ammonium nitrate, fuel, and ammunition—arrived at the Houston-area port with smoke spewing from its cargo hold. Burning ammonium nitrate was responsible for at … die explosion des Oppauer Stickstoffwerkes ereignete am... Explosion is still unknown a busy seaport happened as a result of ammonium nitrate to more... 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