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Ammonium nitrate: what is the chemical blamed for blast in Lebanese capital?
The likely cause of the huge blast in Beirut on Tuesday appears to have been the highly reactive chemical ammonium nitrate.
Lebanon's prime minister, Hassan Diab, said 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded after lying unsecured in a warehouse for six years, tallying with reports that a ship carrying a similar quantity of the chemical had unloaded its cargo at the port in 2013. It remains unclear what caused the chemical to ignite.
AFP is quoting the governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud, as saying the damage from the port blast has extended over half of the city, with the cost of damage likely above $3bn.
He has also upped his previous estimate of the number of "homeless" to 300,000, which is close to the total population of the central part of the capital. Again, we are not sure if he is talking about homelessness or people whose homes have been damaged.
As Death Toll Rises After Deadly Blast, a Search for Answers and Survivors: Live Updates
As Death Toll Rises After Deadly Blast, a Search for Answers and Survivors: Live Updates:
- Search is on for survivors after blast kills more than 100.
- Some 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. But amid the devastation, stories of heroism.
- The science behind the blast: Why fertilizer packs a punch.
- Even as hospitals were destroyed and staffers killed, doctors and nurses raced to help.
- I was bloodied and dazed. Beirut strangers treated me like a friend.
- In maps: A two-mile radius around the blast was flattened.
- Beirut's landmark downtown is in shambles. Again.
(Score: 4, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:32AM (3 children)
Until 1995 your local hardware store had pallet loads of ammonium nitrate 34-0-0 fertilizer. Lighting it on fire isn't usually sufficient to detonate it. It can be sensitized with e.g. aluminum powder, but the unsensitized stuff is safer than gasoline usually.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:39AM (2 children)
Proof of aliens?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Bot on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:17AM
Illegal aliens set off fires using mattresses for petty protests. Data point collected in real time a couple days ago, when the immigrants quarantined in my city could not stand 15 days of the same lockdown we endured AT OUR EXPENSES for months. Not integrated, not integrated at all.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cavarzerani+protesta+2020 [google.com]
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 07 2020, @03:40AM
It's unlikely to be aliens. Contamination with hydrocarbons or something else is possible. I'm not an expert on compounds that act as sensitizers.
There is also the very likely possibility of an malicious intentional act. The region is not known for its stability.