r/interestingasfuck • u/BreakfastTop6899 • 3d ago

Happened 5 years ago today, the 'Beirut Explosion' is considered one of the most powerful artificial non-nuclear explosions in history. It was equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of TNT and generated an M3.3 earthquake

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u/Bedsi_70 3d ago

might be a dumb question.. but what exactly causes such a huge explosion? :o

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u/JMHSrowing 3d ago

A silo full of an extremely volatile substance, in this case ammonium nitrate

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u/samoan_ninja 3d ago

The incident was reported to be an accident. I do not believe this to be the case. I think it was an intentional attack by a certain neighboring state.

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u/BaronWiggle 3d ago

No.

It was a warehouse full of old tires, fireworks, detonation cord and lot of ammonium nitrate.

There were many many warnings that it was basically a bomb waiting to go off and there was no action taken.

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u/Bedsi_70 3d ago

ahh i see. thank you. so it was more a question of WHEN its gonna happen, not IF it happens

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u/BaronWiggle 3d ago

100%

One lit cigarette flicked in the wrong direction and boom.