Science Behind The Beirut Explosion

The Beirut explosion was no doubt a tragedy. But we seem to know that it was caused by improperly stored ammonium saltpeter. So let’s see how exactly it caused such a gigantic explosion.

Image Credit: Karim Sokhn/Instagram/Ksokhn + Thebikekitchenbeirut/via Reuters

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On the 4th August of 2020, at 18:08 local time, a truly gigantic explosion took place in Beirut, Lebanon. Before the explosion, there was a large fire but it was the explosion itself that caused massive damage to the port and practically destroyed it and its surrounding. Because of all the modern technologies available to almost anyone we were capable of watching this unfold this in almost real-time.

And as it tends to be with such an event, many pieces of misinformation and pure fantasy started circulating immediately. For example, some people claim it was a nuclear explosion. And it wasn’t. In a day and age when anyone can easily buy a dosimeter and see whether the radioactivity has risen it is truly fascinating to hear such claims.

On the other hand, Beirut is certainly a hot spot. Any kind of explosion would not surprise anyone in Beirut. Many were stunned when they saw the destructive force of the explosion. Experts now estimate that it was around 100 to 300 tons of TNT. This makes to explosion actually comparable to the smaller tactical nuclear devices in explosive power. But again, that doesn’t mean it was a nuclear explosion.

The explosion was felt as far as in Northern Israel or at Cyprus – over 240 kilometers away and a crater with a diameter of 150 meters got created at the spot of the explosion. The clearly visible shockwave destroys anything it got into its way and destroyed a large portion of windows in all of Beirut. At the moment of writing, I know of 137 killed and over 5000 injured. And because of the hundreds of missing people, these numbers will certainly grow.

What caused the explosion?

Even from the first videos of the catastrophe, we could see the main explosion had a brown-reddish cloud. Experts from all over the world quickly commented because this color is an indicator of an explosion of a nitrate – ammonium saltpeter or an explosive made from it. The Lebanese prime minister also said that 2,750 tons of ammonium saltpeter that were stored in the port for years – in quite improper conditions – was the cause of the explosion.

Ammonium saltpeter is commonly used as a fertilizer because of its high amount of nitrogen. But it is also a potent oxidant and can easily be transformed into an explosive. It is the key part of many cheap, simple Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oils (ANFOs) ANFOs are industrial explosives used in mines and building sites but also by terrorists.

According to an independent investigation by Bellingcar, there is a chance that an ANFO was stored in the Beirut port. So maybe it wasn’t ammonium saltpeter, but an explosive made from it. It may have come from the Russian ship Rhosus that brought it under the flag of Mosambik into the port in 2013 and got stuck because of a breakdown. The local authorities then found the cargo, confiscated it, stored it in the port, and then nobody reacted to the pleas of the customs officers to get rid of the dangerous cargo.

How did it explode?

Ammonium saltpeter itself does not burn. But it is an excellent source of oxygen that increases the burning potential of other materials. And at the same time, it is not that stable. If the temperature reaches a high enough point it saltpeter decays explosively into nitrous oxide and water or into nitrogen, oxygen, and water. These gases then get explosively released. The more saltpeter is in the reaction, the bigger the bang. And when it’s 2,750 tons of saltpeter – it destroys the whole port.

It is not easy to fire off such an explosion. A throw-away cigarette would not be enough for sure. A large fire needs to take place for a good amount of time at the place where the ammonium saltpeter is stored. And you would also need some kind of fuel for the explosion. And both of these conditions were met. You can easily see a large fire on the videos. This fuel was the pyrotechnics that was stored close to the saltpeter. The fire spread to the warehouse with the saltpeter and that directly led to the catastrophe.

So, while you might think this explosion was something special, it actually wasn’t. Ammonium saltpeter is dangerous and sometimes it explodes. Similar disasters, but smaller, are pretty common. No matter whether they are industrial accidents or terrorist attacks. And the world has already seen a similar explosion as well. One of the most destructive took place in 1947 in the Port of Texas City. Back then a ship named Grancamp was carrying roughly 2,300 tons of ammonium saltpeter. There were no weapons there and certainly not nuclear weapons, yet a fire caused a monstrous explosion of the saltpeter. That catastrophe took 581 lives and caused more than 5000 people to get injured. The similarities are quite startling.

Sources:

• https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-ammonium-nitrate-the-chemical-that-exploded-in-beirut/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=SciAm_&sf236565612=1
• https://www.livescience.com/28841-fertilizer-explosions-ammonium-nitrate.html
• https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020/08/04/what-just-blew-up-in-beirut/

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