Hold certain chemical compounds in high regard for their volatility

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I've recently been following the story in the news on the devastating explosion and the consequent blastwave that levelled buildings near the Port of Beirut and caused extensive damage over much of the rest of Lebanon's capital, and I couldn't help but marvel at how Ammonium Nitrate is such a badass chemical compound that should totally not be messed with!

PS: My condolences to all who lost their loved ones in the explosion.

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Comments ( 30 )
  • Boojum
    3 years ago

    Ammonium nitrate is a useful nitrogen fertiliser and it's perfectly safe if handled and stored correctly. The current speculation is that what happened in Beirut was the result of a very large amount ammonium nitrate being stored for years in very poorly controlled conditions without regular inspections, and at some point fuel oil was able to mix with the AN. A fuel oil and AN mix is a very well-known improvised explosive (it's what Timothy McVeigh used when he bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and it has also been used for IEDs in places like Iraq), and it seems that a fire detonated the contaminated AN.

    There are many other chemicals that are far more hazardous to life, and dimethylmercury is a particularly nasty example. This is a colourless liquid at room temperature. A few years ago, a researcher was investigating one of the properties of this compound in a university laboratory. She was highly experienced, was using a fume hood (which sucks any vapours out of the lab and filters the air before it's released outside), was wearing what was deemed to be the correct protective clothing and a face mask. At some point, two drops of the substance dripped from the dropper containing the compound and landed on her latex glove. She thought nothing of it, and continued the experiment.

    Three months later, she noticed that she was losing weight for no good reason. Five months after the incident, she experienced problems with her balance and slurred speech. At this point, she was tested for various heavy metals since this was her field of expertise, and it was found that the mercury content of her urine was about 60 times normal. In spite of some very aggressive treatment to remove the mercury from her system, she lapsed into a vegetative state three weeks later, and died about ten months after those two drops landed on her glove.

    Experiments later found that the dimethylmercury molecule is so small that it easily and rapidly penetrates latex gloves and other standard chem lab protective wear.

    As far as explosives are concerned, there's a compound called acetone peroxide which is attractive to terrorists working in areas where their access to proper explosives is impossible or difficult. It can be synthesised from fairly readily available chemicals by someone who knows exactly what they're doing, but even when it's manufactured correctly, it's so sensitive and unpredictable the slightest impact has been known to set it off and blow up the bastards who intended to blow up other people.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      3 years ago

      Not to gross you out or anything, I spent a lengthy time out of my profession, studying astrology, and from my astrological understanding, Mercury, the planet, rules all things communication; short trips (to deliver messages,) and anything before (mail) and after the advent of the mobile phone... digital correspondence, I would relate if a speech slurring mercurial compound indeed had such an effect on human beings.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      3 years ago

      So you mean crystallized Ammonium Nitrate alone wouldn't have been capable of that extensive explosion? Talk about deciphered news...

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      • Boojum
        3 years ago

        AN is an oxidiser (a compound which will release oxygen when the molecules break apart). In order for it to be used in an explosive, there has to be a fuel present, and some sort of energy input which will start to breakdown the molecules of AN and so release a lot of oxygen. In the right conditions, this becomes a chain reaction and there's very rapid combustion through the mass of AN and fuel (which is, fundamentally, all an explosion is).

        It's the same as the situation with black powder (old fashioned gunpowder). Potassium nitrate is the oxidiser, while finely ground sulphur and charcoal are the fuel. The potassium nitrate is pretty much inert and harmless on its own, and while the charcoal and sulphur will both - reluctantly - burn on their own, the combination of the three ingredients will burn very rapidly.

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        • olderdude-xx
          3 years ago

          Actually you are somewhat incorrect Boojum. While AN is classically considered an oxidiser; and if best used as an explosive by adding a fuel component (and hydrocarbon compounds work very well for that)...

          It also can explode all by itself under the correct conditions, which do not normally occur during normal storage. High heat conditions that start the AN to chemically degrade often leads to an explosion.

          In the case of Beirut, the red smoke coming from the building is indication of the high temperature break down of AN. It is considered likely that a warehouse fire caused by other reasons most likely created the conditions necessary for the high temperature breakdown of AN to occur.

          The very real tragedy here is that its been known for decades how much AN can be stored within what distance of other buildings and population areas (there are standard tables available on that in the Explosive and Fertilizer industries - and I get to review those charts every 4 years when I re-certify as a Class II Licensed Blaster - my area of expertise is explosive metal forming and explosive welding). The quantities involved were multiple orders of magnitude above what could be safely stored in that area by those charts.

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          • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
            3 years ago

            ive worked on structures that were aluminum bonded to steel

            you cant traditionally weld them two metals to each other no matter what theres just no process thatll work

            but apparently you can blast em together in a permanent bond

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            • olderdude-xx
              3 years ago

              Yes you can... Cladding Aluminum onto steel is one of the more common explosive welding clad processes.

              I've never personally done that combination as the company I worked for did not focus on cladding sheets.

              Look up the "HSX" device at the University of Wisconin - Madison. Its a twisty curvy proto development fusion reactor vessel. I explosively formed the sections for it.

              Cool things to work on... I helped fabricate a few other specialty vessels for the high energy physics department as well.

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          • Boojum
            3 years ago

            That's very interesting. Thanks for that, and I wasn't 'somewhat incorrect' as you tactfully say; my limited understanding led me to say something that was simply wrong.

            Just did a quick read of a BBC summary of what's known, and it seems likely that something like 2,750 tonnes of AN had been in that warehouse since 2013. Even my limited understanding would lead me to wonder if keeping that amount of something that's _relatively_ safe in a hot warehouse in a humid environment right next to the sea for year after year was a brilliant idea.

            There are clearly a lot of people in Beirut who are - justifiably - very pissed off about this, but I assume it will be usual case of no one person being responsible for this, but rather a long line of people who have made mistakes or forgotten to do something they should have.

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            • olderdude-xx
              3 years ago

              I understand why you would not likely know about the high temperature breakdown of AN leading to explosions. Likely the only people who normally see that information are Licensed Blasters who have available and may have to read all kinds of technical information on the common materials used for explosives, and on various explosive compounds and forms. My personal favorite is black powder... There are compressed black powder blocks 6" diameter. It produces a very soft and relatively slow speed conflagration type explosive. Great for moving metal against forms. Dynamite is too hard and fast - and can shatter the metal before its pushed into the form (as I have learned). There are several other explosives that work as well for metal forming.

              As for Beirut... My understanding at this time (which may turn out to be wrong) is that some Judge ordered it removed from the ship and stored as the ship was in hazard of sinking and blocking a good portion of the port. Then every time that the port authorities sent a letter to the judicial department about the dangers and the need to get it out of there... that the judicial judges wrote back that the issue was not likely in an area where they had any jurisdiction.

              I'm not sure we will ever know the true story. It's likely in the best interest of more than one official for the truth to never come out. Unfortunate, but true.

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            • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
              3 years ago

              there was a similar disaster in texas city in 1947 when a ship fulla AN caught fire

              they used steam to try and smother the fire but that heated the cargo to the pointa explodin

              it was about the same amount as beirut but it was contained in thick steel so that increased the blast and shrapnel effect

              the whole town was nearby to watch the ship fire so that didnt help

              they found onea the anchors a mile & a half away from ground zero and its a monument now

              plus side in beriut was the grain silo absorbed a lotta the blast that would have been directed at the downtown of the city

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  • SmokeEverything
    3 years ago

    It's interesting because it's another chemical that produces mushroom clouds like dynamite does in high volume.

    And people think nukes are real

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    • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
      3 years ago

      any rapid heatin event can cause a mushroom cloud

      ive made mushrooms clouds in my yard with diesel and woodpiles

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      • SmokeEverything
        3 years ago

        Big explosions are real but none of them are nuclear fission

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        • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
          3 years ago

          you have an odd worldview

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          • SmokeEverything
            3 years ago

            I just think its amazing how people believe in these incredible technology and when you look for proof it actually exists its actually pretty flimsy.

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            • Correction
              3 years ago

              Meh. This doesn’t really seem to be about proof or lack thereof. It’s kind of like the moon landing. Setting aside whatever you believe about the proof that the moon landing was real, the proof that it was fake is...sketchy at best, and most of it is pretty laughable. If you’re unconvinced by the proof of nukes being real, that’s one thing. But there’s zero evidence of a single bomb being dropped in either city before the night of the alleged nuclear bombing, and you seem to believe that happened based on your other comment. So if it was just about proof, then we’d be left with saying we have no idea if they really landed on the moon or if nukes are real, but you’re going beyond that into things that you can’t prove any more than other people can prove the opposite.

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        • LloydAsher
          3 years ago

          Nukes are real. That's why we are constantly worried about accidently leveling the world by war.

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          • SmokeEverything
            3 years ago

            People believe nukes are real, which accomplishes the same ends without having to put any effort into making them work and pocketing the rest of the money.

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            • LloydAsher
              3 years ago

              So the atom bomb was just a really large bomb that just so happens to caused a swath of radiation sickness and deaths?

              Oh yeah if we could bluff the invention of an h bomb that's fine but having one able to be used is far, far more useful.

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  • Mammal-lover
    3 years ago

    thats what he used? I saw that on Brandon's channel. The explosion was beautiful

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  • olderdude-xx
    3 years ago

    There are indeed many chemicals that can cause an explosion or a conflagration. AN-fuel oil conflagrates - its reaction rate is slower than the speed of sound in the material; in explosives the reaction rate is faster than the speed of sound in the material).

    The vast majority of the suspect chemical compounds are tightly controlled; and lab directors all know to avoid mixing certain chemical compounds unless really required - and then under very careful conditions.

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