Posted on Aug 4, 2020
How much explosive was needed to make a blast of that size in Beruit??? Not as big as the Halifax disaster but exponential of a MOAB?
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Fox News Channel
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Lebanon
Explosives
Edited >1 y ago
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Once upon a time there was a nuclear weapon blast calculator on line where you could pick a location and some equivalent of TNT and it would show you on a map the blast effect. You could get your question answered there.
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LTC Jason Mackay
2800 tons of Ammonium Nitrate. You can google the conversion factor and find the NEW in TNT.....and compare to MOAB which I believe is 2000lbs of TNT equivalent
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LTC Jason Mackay
Post script: LTC (Join to see) talked to someone else that had a conversion factor .74. Grind the math 4580ish KT blast from the Ammonium Nitrate depending on what percentage it was. MOAB is 11KT.
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The news reports stated 2750 tonnes (metric) of ammonium nitrate detonated.
That is 3031 tons, given an RE factor of .74, the explosion was equivalent to 2243 tons of TNT, or 2.2 kiloton yield.
A MOAB is 11 tons, for comparison.
That is 3031 tons, given an RE factor of .74, the explosion was equivalent to 2243 tons of TNT, or 2.2 kiloton yield.
A MOAB is 11 tons, for comparison.
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SSG (Join to see)
SGT Christopher Hayden - I read somewhere they had that stuff sitting there for the past six years. Crazy.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
A better comparison would the the Texas City disaster. The SS Grandcamp exploded with 2300 tons of Ammonia Nitrate, which then set off a series of chain reactions among the local refinery and chemical plants. At the time, it was the largest non nuclear explosion in the world.
By an odd coincidence, both the ships in the Halifax and Texas City disasters were of French registry.
By an odd coincidence, both the ships in the Halifax and Texas City disasters were of French registry.
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We'd have to time out the blast wave in milliseconds and then figure out the NEW based on how far the damage was. I'm guessing close to 5-10,000 pounds since it broke windows over 6 miles away. Just a SWAG though.
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TSgt David L.
CPT (Join to see) - Yes Sir. It would give you the overpressure at a given point in space. If they could tell what it was at the airport you could get pretty close if you could tell how long it took to get there.
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TSgt David L.
CPT (Join to see) - If it was the 2,750 TONS like they said I was WAY off. Hard to judge size and distance from the video.
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Somewhere someone knows that number right now (I'm sure the satellite imagery makes a pretty good guess). We all could, but I can't find consistent data to the extend of the damage at varying distances. Somewhere I'm sure weather satellites have the pressure spikes and then it's just a simple calculation.
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LTC (Join to see)
My best guess is 600% bigger than MOAB. Obviously, apples and oranges...but BDA at 6.1 miles, carry the 1...there's my estimate. We will have to see what the talking heads come up with.
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The news said it was 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate so...that much?
Here's an article from today: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion.html
'Lebanese officials knew of the dangers posed by the ammonium nitrate stored at the port for years, according to public records, but failed to act. And anger at Lebanon’s hierarchy flared on the streets a day after the explosion."
Here's an article from today: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion.html
'Lebanese officials knew of the dangers posed by the ammonium nitrate stored at the port for years, according to public records, but failed to act. And anger at Lebanon’s hierarchy flared on the streets a day after the explosion."
As Death Toll Rises in Beirut Blast, a Search for Answers and Survivors: Live Updates
Some 300,000 people are displaced from their homes by the explosion that killed more than 100 people. Rescue workers dug through rubble as fires continued to burn.
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