| From: | Michael Orion Jackson orion@****.cc.utexas.edu |
|---|---|
| Subject: | industrial accidents Re: Fuel Air Bombs : Another question? |
| Date: | Tue, 20 Apr 1999 23:44:22 -0500 (CDT) |
> At 07:05 AM 4/15/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >Btw, I recommend a lighter fuel than kerosene for your
> >atomized component (naptha is a good choice), and the
> >booster should be something that burns slowly (Ammonium
> >Nitrate (most industrial fertilizers) soaked in kerosene
>
> This reminds me of a lecture I endured once as a Chemical Engineering
> student, all about how nasty the stuff we worked with, was.
>
> The worst industrial accident in North America took place in an empty
> warehouse.
>
> Well, technically it wasn't empty, but...
>
> They were tearing down this warehouse, in order to build something else.
> Eventually they got around to breaking up the concrete floor with
> jackhammers. This turned out to be too much work, so they decided to use
> small charges and blast the floor into chunks. So far, so good.
> Unfortunately, nobody had bothered to ask what the warehouse used to contain.
>
> Fertilizer and manure.
>
> The 'concrete floor' was actually a foot or so of hardened, compacted
> fertilizer.
>
> The 'small charges' created a blast that took out the crew, the warehouse,
> and all the buildings for several blocks around.
>
> -Fhaolan
>
I'm not sure if what I'm thinking of counts as an industrial accident or a
nautical accident (the ship was in port...), but don't forget about the
1947 Texas City incident. I don't recall the exact specifics but a ship
carrying something like 3,000 US tons of ammonium nitrate exploded while
at port in Texas City (here in Texas, naturally :^) down near Houston
iirc). This caused further chain reactions in all the petroleum
refineries and storage tanks in the town. Blew the whole town to shit,
killed a bunch of people. They still don't allow ships carrying Ammonium
Nitrate into that port, 52 years later... (i don't remember how many
people were killed, something is making me want to say it was in the
triple digits, which sucks but is still pretty good for practically
vaporizing a good portion of the town)
*****************Michael Orion Jackson******************
***********TAMS Class of 96/UT Class of 2000************
*********************Random Quote:**********************
*The spider's native name is "ass-biter-surprise,"sir..*
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