By contrast, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 had a yield of at least 13,000 tons of TNT. Fenianos, caretaker PM Hassan Diab and ex-ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter have recently been charged with negligence … Add enough of the oxidizer to a fire, and it will trigger an explosion. Using math pioneered in the 1940s to infer the atomic bomb’s yield, experts can analyze videos of a shockwave to get rough estimates of an explosion’s total energy and how much material blew up. Given the reported amount, Oxley hypothesizes that a vehicle must have been used to carry the compound inside, and that could have contaminated it with oil or gasoline. Though Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, estimates it’s probably closer to 400 tons. The more ammonium nitrate… Former public works minister Youssef “Fenianos did not inform me of the presence of the ammonium nitrate at the port and we hold the president of the republic responsible because he is a military man who knows ammonium nitrate’s danger,” Franjieh added. The August 4 blast that left more than 190 dead was caused by 2,750 tons of the volatile ammonium nitrate that caught fire. If the 2,700-tonne figure is accurate, that would make the ammonium nitrate explosion larger than the 1947 Texas City Disaster, when a consignment of 2,300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate … Ammonium Nitrate, Which Caused Beirut Blast, Has a Bloodied Past With Several Industrial Accidents. To produce a solid product, the ammonium nitrate solution is concentrated in an evaporator or concentrator. The majority of those killed were firefighters, including at least one teenager. Other health issues, akin to those seen after 9/11, may emerge given the widespread destruction to buildings and roads. Ammonium nitrate would only explode on its own if its temperature was rapidly raised to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. All about ammonium nitrate — chemical behind the massive blast in Lebanon’s Beirut While ammonium nitrate does not combust on its own, it can explode if contaminated by a flammable substance like oil, or if it comes in contact with fire. While ammonium nitrate can in fact put out a fire, if the chemical itself is contaminated, for example with oil, it becomes highly explosive. The blast, which rattled entire buildings and broke glass, was felt across the city. Since 1916, the chemical has been responsible for at least 30 disasters, some accidental and some intentional. Lebanon was already dealing with political and financial woes, due in part to the Syrian migration crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. The S.S. Grandcamp—carrying ammonium nitrate, fuel, and ammunition—arrived at the Houston-area port with smoke spewing from its cargo hold. “Plastics, for example, paint, and other organic materials that completely or partially burned—all the building materials that became dust.”, The deadly history of ammonium nitrate, the explosive linked to the Beirut blast, Photograph by Anwar AMRO, AFP via Getty Images. Why Beirut’s ammonium nitrate blast was so devastating. “If you look at the smoke that came from the blast it’s this kind of blood red colour. Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who himself was caretaker prime minister when the ammonium nitrate entered the port, said there was a double standard in charging Diab over the blast … Though Lebanese authorities have said ammonium nitrate was the culprit in the blast, Lewis notes that in many cases commercial explosives are referred to as just this compound even though they contain additives. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. The images coming out of Beirut are also horribly reminiscent of the destruction inflicted on the Chinese city of Tianjin by a 2015 warehouse disaster that killed more than 170 people and left hundreds injured. A wounded woman is evacuated after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. But for the compound to figure in an explosion of this magnitude, chemists and explosives experts say a lot has to go wrong. Approximately 60 percent of the ammonium nitrate produced in the U. S. is sold as a solid product. A more likely explanation is that the ammonium nitrate in Beirut was not alone inside the warehouse. Credit: Fadel Itani/NurPhoto/Getty . Ship carrying ammonium nitrate behind Beirut blast passed through Istanbul Nerdun Hacıoğlu - MOSCOW. Beirut mayor Marwan Abboud told Agence France-Presse that 300,000 people are unable to return to their homes, as the damage covered half the city and could cost up to $15 billion to repair. Then, as now, witnesses filmed apocalyptic, almost surreal footage showing the scale of the inferno. Such was the force of the Tianjin explosions that they registered as small earthquakes. “As I … Piling up large amounts of ammonium nitrate allows more heat to be contained for longer when a mixture burns. "If the pictures are right, this was something meant to be an oxidizer used with other agents," such as explosives used for mining, he says. When something burns, it requires oxygen—that’s why fire extinguishers can easily put out flames by smothering them. Beirut strangers treated me like a … In April 1995, American terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols used two tons of the compound in a truck-bomb attack on the Oklahoma City federal building; 168 people were killed. Oxidizers do the opposite: They increase the amount of oxygen molecules that concentrate in a space, which helps make other substances more flammable. The scale of the damage — from the epicenter of the explosion at the port of Beirut to the windows blown out kilometers (miles) away — resembles other blasts involving the chemical compound commonly used … The deadly Lebanon blast has called into question the safety of large stockpiles of ammonium nitrate in Australia. What detonated the explosive compound remains unclear—but the Beirut blast is not the first time ammonium nitrate has led to calamity. 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. It is not used as an explosive on its own, rather it is an oxidiser and makes a fire more intense, according to Gabriel da Silva, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. On the night of 12 August a series of cataclysmic detonations rocked an area of warehouses where large quantities of hazardous chemicals, also including sodium cyanide and potassium nitrate, were being stored, in some cases illegally. The Roseburg Blast: A truck carrying dynamite and 4.5 tons of ammonium nitrate caught … 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. World. The ensuing explosion killed some 600 people, including everyone on the dock and ship. Ammonium nitrate is formed when ammonia gas is combined with liquid nitric acid. 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. In his statement on Thursday, Rifi said he told Sawwan that quantities from the ammonium nitrate shipment had been used by the Syrian regime and … © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- The blast filled Beirut’s air with particulate matter, one of the most common forms of air pollution. The likely cause of the huge blast in Beirut on Tuesday appears to have been the highly reactive chemical ammonium nitrate. With such a powerful blast, ammonium nitrate has been used by armies around the world as an explosive. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. “All kinds of other materials probably ignited and burned,” says Beaudoin. 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