I’d like to know just how big a crater this would have left if that driver hadn’t been quick with a fire extinguisher on a truck full of TNT.
I drive by that station now and then.
I also learned that there are 2000 pounds in a [short] ton. So the truck had 21.5 tons on it. Roughly 5 times less powerful than this explosion was:
Searching Google, I learned of a Mexican truck last September that had a terrible ending, with a similar load of cargo.
This is the kind of story that demonstrates why it is not yet safe to move nuclear waste around by truck or even train.
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Hat tip to Huffb1
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RobertJago | 07-Jul-08 at 5:50 pm | Permalink
I don’t see why it means that it’s dangerous to move nuclear waste by train or truck. Is nuclear waste explosive?
Really, isn’t grain like a hundred times more explosive than nuclear waste? I remember a while back we had to leave a party because a grain silo or something was on fire at the Port of Vancouver and there was a danger that it would explode and lay waste to the neighbourhood.
Saskboy | 07-Jul-08 at 6:28 pm | Permalink
Robert, you’re inferring incorrectly that I meant the waste would explode. Obviously, I thought, the risk of a simple brake fire could send clouds of waste contaminated smoke into the air for hundreds of kilometers.
Saskboy | 07-Jul-08 at 6:33 pm | Permalink
And yes, to answer your question grain dust is terribly explosive. There’s a nifty [and potentially dangerous] experiment where you put a little bit of flour into an ice cream pail, with a hole and hose poked into the bottom. You put a candle inside, and the lid on top, and blow air into the hose so the dust disperses…
Stephen Glauser | 07-Jul-08 at 11:09 pm | Permalink
That would’ve been quite the bang. Good thing it didn’t blow up!
Michael | 10-Jul-08 at 4:35 pm | Permalink
How many tons of explosives were used in that video? And I like how the dynamite truck driver pulled in to a service station, which I can only assume included a gas station as well.
Saskboy | 10-Jul-08 at 5:06 pm | Permalink
Michael,
The video has about 100 tons, or is says in the YouTube description.
The driver likely didn’t expect that he was on fire, and probably thought it was a flat or simple mechanical problem, or I doubt he would have endangered a gas station (which is at where he pulled into according to the news report).
Zack | 11-Jul-08 at 12:46 pm | Permalink
Actually the risk of explosion isn’t as high as it is made out to be. TNT is a secondary explosive and is quite stable. If set on fire it will burn away rather than explode. It takes more energy to cause an explosion, ie. a blasting cap.
I still wouldn’t want to be around to watch a truck load of TNT burn.
Saskboy | 11-Jul-08 at 12:57 pm | Permalink
What about the diesel burning or something else in the truck’s frame, would that set it off possibly?
Patrick Ross | 11-Jul-08 at 3:20 pm | Permalink
I wouldn’t want Moose Jaw to blow up. Then there’d be no more taco in a bag.
Zack | 14-Jul-08 at 3:27 pm | Permalink
I’ve watched video of a gasoline fire being set on a kilo of TNT without explosion. The TNT just burns away or deflagrates.
Saskboy | 14-Jul-08 at 4:33 pm | Permalink
What about diesel, does the burning temperature difference matter?