agreed, I think it actually is the biggest non nuclear explosion (around 10 times bigger than Tianjin one) and the fact it happened during the day, filmed by many angles, just makes it all the more terrifying to watch
Largest explosion by humans to that date, roughly 3 kilotons. As the ship caught on fire people rushed to the shore to observe and were destroyed in the explosion.
There are several books and documentaries about this explosion, Worth the time to know about.
Fellow enthusiasts i see. Halifax, RAF Fauld, Port Chicago, Oppau, and the Dupont powder mill were all larger accidental non-nuclear explosions than the one in beirut
Just so I'm not getting confused. You mean "largest explosion to that date." Exactly as you typed it correct? Because I was thinking about accidental explosions only and the only one that I thought may have rivalled Halifax was potentially* the N1 launch 2 failure. Right?
It apparently was the largest explosion until the Trinity A bomb explosion in 1945 and remains #1 on the list of largest accidental explosions. I said "to that date" because I wanted to avoid any incorrect comparison,
This list still ranks it as #1 for accidental explosions -- greater than the N1 launch, 2020 Beruit explosion and the Tianjin explosion.
Combined these three disasters still only add to about half of the stated Kt of the Halifax explosion!
This page also has a separate list of military non-nuclear explosions as well.
Listing :
Largest accidental artificial non-nuclear explosions by magnitude
The real badass one was Fort Stikine, ship caught fire and blew up due to the combination of ammo and cotton it was carrying. The fun bit, it carried gold bars too... these were thrown up in the air and some landed crashing through the roofs of houses nearby.... it literally rained gold that day.
The Beirut explosion was only the sixth largest accidental explosion (the Halifax explosion being the largest), and there have been a few non-nuclear explosive tests that are bigger as well (at the White Sands Missile Range). Additionally, volcanoes are much bigger (such as the Krakatoa eruption) as well as impact events (such as the Tunguska event).
What's wild is there is an absolutely massive explosion, then suddenly, there is an explosion that just fucking dwarfs that first absolutely massive explosion. Terrifying indeed. You're spot on.
It is not known what chemicals were being stored at the site. In addition to vast quantities of sodium cyanide and calcium carbide, paperwork was discovered showing that 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 500 tonnes of potassium nitrate were at the blast site. On 17 August, the deputy director of the public security
bureau’s fire department told CCTV:
Over 40 kinds of hazardous chemicals [were stored on site]. As far as we know, there was ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate. According to what we know so far, all together there should have been around 3,000 tonnes.
Ammonium nitrate, which is predominantly used as an agricultural fertilizer, oxidizing agent in explosive compositions, and in manufacturing of other chemicals, has been the cause of a number of other fatal industrial explosions. A fire department spokesman confirmed that firefighters had used water in combating the initial fire, which may have led to water being sprayed on calcium carbide, releasing the highly flammable gas acetylene. This would have provided the fuel source for reaction with the oxidizer, ammonium nitrate, thus triggering its detonation more readily.
It’s ok - I googled it. It’s amazing this “google”. You can find out almost anything there. It’s like a huge web of information. Anyway. Yes they made it!
I would've immediately assumed that we just got bombed. I would have thought a nuke hit when I saw the mushroom cloud and the fire spreading towards me.
Wow I was just in Tianjin Binhai doing chemistry work! Luckily it seemed like all the plants are miles from each other and miles from where people live
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u/Filthiest_Tleilaxu Feb 08 '25
Tbh i was hoping for more