https://www.myarklamiss.com/video/ae...706/1880510767
A tanker truck exploded leaving a crater 100ft wide and 15 ft deep. One of the news broadcasts I saw mentioned Ammonium-nitrate. I've got a LOT of questions on this. I worked with the stuff for years at a granary and fertilizer plant. I can't imagine Urea just exploding. Thooughts?
Ammonium Nitrate is a common ingredient in low-brisance explosives that gives a "heaving" effect, as opposed to high-brisance explosives like C4 that have an ability akin to shatter/cut through materials.Originally Posted by Bigguy
In explosives use, it's usually referred to as ANFO: Ammonium Nitrate, Fuel Oil.
Most notably in our lifetime, a 350lbs ANFO car bomb was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.
Regardless of ammonium Nitrate on its own being a "safe" material, this is why purchases of such are monitored by LE entities. I'm not sure what happened here in this incident, but home-made ANFO bombs are usually of poor quality. Results differ from professional grade explosives, ranging from complete failure to a low-order detonation. While the bomb ingredients are simple, initiation is still key as well as the quality of construction of the ingredients.
Last edited by TGS; 03-27-2019 at 06:21 PM.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
TGS, Thanks.
This caught my attention because in my book, "From The Delta Mud" I have my antagonist make a ANFO bomb. Some 40 years ago, when I worked at a plant that sold fertilizer, we tried to make a fertilizer bomb. (A little one. We were just having fun and had no intention of destroying anything.) We were never successful. So, in my book, I have my guy discover that it's not as simple as following instructions found on the Internet. I have him enlist the aid of an aging alcoholic anarchists. I don't go into the specifics of how the device is made.
This story caught my eye because if plain-ol Urea can just explode, then the premise of my book is wrong.
We had a few quarries in my jurisdiction. They had anfo trucks for blasting. They looked like fertilizer tanker trucks
The latest from local news sources is that the brakes on the truck caught fire and that eventually lead to the detonation.
Texas City (TX) (1947) blew with about 2,200 tons of ammonium nitrate.
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