Scrutable

Boustrophedon wrote:However I don't have access to the paper you link to. But the abstract doesn't seem to address that point

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:23 pm

Boustrophedon wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 6:52 am

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:25 am

Ammonium nitrate is much more difficult to detonate without being mixed with fuel.

Is it? ANFO requires a detonator and a primer of dynamite or similar.

A detonator is only required if someone wants to have control over the time of the explosion. Which would be the case with a bomb or industrial use. Ammonium nitrate will also explode if its heated to a high temperature. So there have been ammonium nitrate explosions when it was burnt by an intense fire. For example, in Tianjin "An investigation found that stocks of flammable nitrocellulose - a chemical used in nail polish - had caught fire and spread to illegal stores of the fertiliser ammonium nitrate. The blasts that were triggered ripped through an industrial port area in the city, destroying buildings, shipping containers and thousands of new cars."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37927158

jimbob wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 08, 2020 7:19 am

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:23 pm

A detonator is only required if someone wants to have control over the time of the explosion. Which would be the case with a bomb or industrial use. Ammonium nitrate will also explode if its heated to a high temperature. So there have been ammonium nitrate explosions when it was burnt by an intense fire. For example, in Tianjin "An investigation found that stocks of flammable nitrocellulose - a chemical used in nail polish - had caught fire and spread to illegal stores of the fertiliser ammonium nitrate. The blasts that were triggered ripped through an industrial port area in the city, destroying buildings, shipping containers and thousands of new cars."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37927158

Nitrocellulose was infamous enough to make it into Terry Pratchett jokes about the Guild of Alchemists, pretty explicitly with the billiard balls.

That also seems a bad material to store near Ammonium Nitrate

jaap wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:33 am

Magicians use "Flash paper", thin paper that burns up in a flash without leaving any ashes. That is a very flammable form of nitrocellulose. It is usually stored wet, and only dried out before use. I've heard horror stories of magicians losing or forgetting a packet of flash paper or flash string, only for it to slowly dry out and become dangerous.

Boustrophedon wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:20 pm

jaap wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:33 am

Magicians use "Flash paper", thin paper that burns up in a flash without leaving any ashes. That is a very flammable form of nitrocellulose. It is usually stored wet, and only dried out before use. I've heard horror stories of magicians losing or forgetting a packet of flash paper or flash string, only for it to slowly dry out and become dangerous.

As with all things it depends. Nitrocellulose lacquer is very flammable and silly to store around potential explosives, but as a dried lacquer it is quite stable as for one thing it is not as nitrated as the nitrocellulose used for propellant or flash paper.

Highly nitrated cellulose is stable as long as all traces of the nitrating acids are removed. This was found out the hard way in the early days of smokeless propellant. One can imagine that in the olden days magicians perhaps making their own flash paper, might not be quite so diligent. Modern magic flash paper can be stored dry quite safely.

“The evidence overwhelmingly shows that the August 2020 explosion in Beirut’s port was caused by the actions and omissions of senior Lebanese officials who failed to accurately communicate the dangers posed by the ammonium nitrate, knowingly stored the material in unsafe conditions, and failed to protect the public,” said Lama Fakih, crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch...

The evidence to date raises questions regarding whether the ammonium nitrate was intended for Mozambique, as the Rhosus‘s shipping documents stated, or whether Beirut was the intended destination. The evidence currently available also indicates that multiple Lebanese authorities were, at a minimum, criminally negligent under Lebanese law in their handling of the cargo, creating an unreasonable risk to life, Human Rights Watch said.