I immediately wondered that; a low yield dirty bomb, at say, the UN on the Upper East Side would be a different EMP profile, I presume, from a higher yielded ship born bomb inside, say, a container which had cleared customs in Pakistan, and that would be different from a high altitude air burst, right? So, and the physics seems calculable if annoyingly in my past--you should be able to calculate a range of EMP from various yields?

The "Quora" answers are: a ground-based (ship based?) lower yield weapon has EMP effects of note to the 3 mile range.

An airburst would be a different issue. "Starfish Prime”. In this high altitude nuclear test, carried out in 1962, a 1.44 Mt warhead was detonated at a height of 400 km. Electrical damage, including burning out hundreds of street lamps was caused in Hawaii - about 1500 km from the point of detonation.

By contrast there was no direct blast damage at all at that range.

The maximal electric fields induced in the Starfish Prime EMP in Hawaii were estimated at 6 kV/m. At high latitudes the value could easily be ten times higher.

For electrical equipment to be damaged by an EMP from a nuclear detonation, the detonation point must be above the visual horizon.

A large yield weapon detonated 400 km above Kansas would have an EMP that extended across the entire continental US, but the ground intensity pattern of that EMP would be peaked towards the South of ground zero, it would not be symmetrical."

Updated reports said it wasn’t the fireworks, but 240 IEDs found in the house, 40 coke can size, 200 smaller ones they detonated. That sounds like way more than 10 lbs of explosive to me...the limit for the blast containment unit they detonated them in.

I heard 5000 lbs in other reports too....but it seems that's the entire haul, not what they exploded on scene. Footage of the 5000 lbs of fireworks looked like two pallets worth. I'm curious about whether the fireworks were removed before detonation or if they just got lucky they didn't go off too.

That was not just 10 lbs of fireworks exploding. It flipped over nearby cars and obliterated the bomb disposal truck, launching the 1ton lid over two blocks away. I know that's the LAPDs story, 10 lbs, but they aren't exactly known for telling the truth, especially if it's bad for them.

I've now read there were 40 coke can sized IEDs and 200 more slightly smaller devices all filled with unknown explosives. That sounds like 35lbs +- for the coke can sized ones alone (based on the weight of an unopened can), and who knows how much the smaller ones weighed, but there were 200 of them!!! Somebody screwed up big time putting them all in at once. That was way more than 10 lbs of unknown high explosives, and 10lbs wouldn't be safe to dispose of in a neighborhood. It should have been done in stages, starting with a test of just one, and a full evacuation of the block, not knocking on the 2 neighbor's doors and walking away.

At least it's turning out that most of the injuries weren't civilians, but more than one home is destroyed and many may have permanent hearing damage.

She says detonating 5000 lbs? From what i could find it was 10 lbs as the container was rated to take up to 15 lbs.

Seems almost all the fireworks were on pallets and were forklifted onto a semi to be moved.

From YouTube videos description..

Explosive hydroforming, also known as HERF (High Energy Rate Forming) or exploform, is a striking alternative to the more traditional process of metal hydroforming. Unlike this older method, which shapes metal using pressurized hydraulic fluid pumped into a forming chamber, HERF techniques utilize an explosive charge to create the necessary pressure. Although the charge is relatively small, it is capable of generating enough force to mold the associated metal into the die.

The explosive charge is typically positioned at a specific distance from the workpiece, and both are immersed in fluid, usually hydraulic fluid or simple water. Certain facilities may also use oil, gelatin, liquid salts, or regular air as the transmission medium. However, water is the most commonly used medium as it is the least expensive, excellent for creating uniform peak pressure, and readily available. Once the charge and workpiece are properly positioned, the charge is detonated, pressing the workpiece into a die. The part is then removed and the process is repeated if necessary.

Explosive Hydroforming Methods
Explosive hydroforming techniques fall into two basic categories. Although both methods function according to the same general principles, they rely on very different placement of the explosive charge within the forming chamber.

Standoff Method: With the Standoff Method, the explosive charge is used in conjunction with an intervening medium. In most hydroforming applications, the intervening material is typically water, oil, or air. The required deformation level dictates how far the explosive charge is placed from the piece of metal to be formed. When the charge detonates, the ensuing force is transmitted through the fluid and pressures the metal into the die. Detonations used in the Standoff Method can often reach several thousand pounds per square inch (psi).

Contact Method: In the Contact Method, an explosive charge is placed in direct contact with the forming metal. This process generates far more pressure than the more conventional Standoff Method. By placing the explosive charge in close proximity to the surface material, the detonation can result in as much as several million psi.

My guess is that they need to measure the forces that the weapon, and its internal components, are subjected to if it falls out of a transport or if it goes off course and subsequently impacts the ground. This will help them predict the likelihood of and unintentional detonation of the conventional explosives, and I suppose the likelihood of a nuclear reaction resulting from this. It will also help them predict the kind of cleanup task that will be necessary. It might also be useful to know how much secret technology survives after an impact if the weapon does not detonate.
Anyone know the back story on Sandia Labs appropriating the thunderbid symbol? It seems a poor choice for a weapons lab of colonizing nation to use the symbol of a people that nation has displaced.

Ammonimum nitrate does require a sensitizer in order to be explosive, however this stuff was intended for blasting, so it presumably already had something mixed in with it. The other requirement is a low explosive detonator, eg blasting caps. In this case it was probably a random accident, so not as efficient as a deliberate blasting setup.

The large, windowless square structure is grain storage. It blocked some of the blast but represents a large fraction of Lebanon's grain supply.

More details from https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/beirut-blast-wrap-up.html#more

-------------------------%<--------------------------------%<------------------------------ RFERL spoke with the captain of the ship that had unintentionally brought the ammonium nitrate to Lebanon. He confirms the ship's arrest. It also reports the cause of the incident:

Lebanon's LBCI-TV reported on August 5 that, according to preliminary information, the fire that set off the explosion was started accidentally by welders who were closing off a gap that allowed unauthorized entry into the warehouse.

LBCI said sparks from a welder's torch are thought to have ignited fireworks stored in a warehouse, which in turn detonated the nearby cargo of ammonium nitrate that had been unloaded from the MV Rhosus years earlier.

Independent experts say orange clouds that followed the massive blast on August 4 were likely from toxic nitrogen dioxide gas that is released after an explosion involving nitrates.

There is a short video of firefighters at the initial fire. Reportedly none survived when the fireworks fire set off the ammonium nitrate. Another video shows the initial fire caused by welding. It burns a while and then sets off fireworks in a first explosion. This takes the roof off the warehouse. A few minutes later the fireworks cause the huge explosion of the ammonium nitrate.

Reuters provides another detail:

The source said a fire had started at port warehouse 9 on Tuesday and spread to warehouse 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored.

That the ammonium nitrate was stored for seven years was not the responsibility of the port management but was caused by some judicial quarrel:

The head of Beirut port and the head of customs both said on Wednesday that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the dangerous material be removed, but no action was taken.

Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem told OTV the material had been put in a warehouse on a court order, adding that they knew then the material was dangerous but “not to this degree”.

“We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen. We leave it to the experts and those concerned to determine why,” Badri Daher, director general of Lebanese Customs, told broadcaster LBCI.

Two documents seen by Reuters showed Lebanese Customs had asked the judiciary in 2016 and 2017 to request that the “concerned maritime agency” re-export or approve the sale of the ammonium nitrate, which had been removed from cargo vessel Rhosus and deposited in warehouse 12, to ensure port safety.

I concur. This is more a fail than a success. The commission, I assume, is not to have something "cool" to see -- like watching aerial parkour -- but to have footage at each stages of detonations for the engineers to analyze if every calculations/explosive hookups went off as planned.

With that as parameters, there's almost nothing to see here. If the drone is equipped with a wide-angle lens and/or multi-cam setup (filming both the building and the smokestack at the same time) than maybe the video would be useful. What I see here is crap, narrated by clowns.

@mxxcon: The drone controllers are the assholes IMO. Shouldn't be paid, or paid 10-20% of the commission, max!

So much orange, so this is what it would look like if you detonated Trump in the middle of the desert.

So, you think, with no training, no equipment, no pay, and no oversight, I should become an armed vigilante, a punisher, and that somehow addresses police corruption? What?
Edit: I already do that when reasonable....when I see something I DO something. Where I live we have highway patrol and that's it. They don't show up when people are reported detonating huge explosives or shooting their guns rapid fire in the neighborhood, so I and others must investigate ourselves.

Police don't do those kinds of studies, why should I? They don't address corruption a bit.

Why?

Not a bit motivated to do meaningless busy work at your whim.
You do a study, it has nothing to do with solving police corruption and abuse, why would I?

Since it's your field, how about you do a study on how often police are given a pass on felonies that would put anyone else in prison. Then do another showing how often they get away with crimes that would cost anyone else their net worth. Then do one examining what happens to cops that turn in criminal cops. Then do a study about what happens to cops that threaten other cops off the force. Have your studies verified, repeated, and published, then if you aren't in prison on trumped up charges I'll give you that atta boy you didn't offer me before explaining what a waste of time that was.

Not a bit sure what your point could be. Cops do some needed work, so give all their crimes and abuses a pass?
What are you saying? Nothing rational or helpful that I discern.

Sounds like ' You need farmers to feed us all, so let them use deadly poisons and sell deadly, contaminated, even fake food without repercussions, or consider the implications of having no farmers.' Deep.....to a gnat.

I'd come up with something funny to say, but I'm afraid Ikea would detonate the trestles on my Linnmon desk.

Your video, Silo Roof Detonation, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Not a genuine Rubik's Cube... which is why they're getting away with some imprecision / rebound in their spins.

Wonder how many cycles each cube can stand before it detonates...?

You all are right to call BS on this video. Its trash.

The earthquake that caused the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra released a total of 9 600 000 megatons of energy....that's a bit more than 50 megatons. I don't know though, I'm not a math major.

This earthquake didn't make new continents, nor did it cause an ice age by pushing earth a significant distance away from the sun. So I'm going to guess that neither would this bomb.

The portion of the 2004 earthquake's total energy that was released on the surface of the sea floor was only 26 megatons and it was released a lot less quickly than the detonation of the Tsar bomba, I'll give ya that.

Probably generate a Tsunami, but not a large one. Large natural tsunamis, like those in 2004 and 2011, are generated by very sudden movement of the ocean floor over a large area; the 2004 Sumatra quake lifted the sea floor several meters, very rapidly, along a 1600 km long section of fault, displacing a total of 30 cubic kilometers of water. Google "what does a cubic kilometer look like". Its a lot of water.

Not sure if the bomb can move that much water at a single site; I don't think it replicates the right "mechanics" of large scale tsunami generation....