Quote:
Originally Posted by sc_rufctr
Just for info... To set ANFO off you need an initiation with a shock wave.
Could an exploding firework provide that shock wave? Maybe but not likely IMO.
Back in the day we used a stick of dynamite inside a bag of ANFO to set it off. They were 20 kg bags and we used one stick per bag. They were set off with Det cord and a blasting cap. And our farmers use ANFO to lift tree stumps when clearing land.
Ammonium nitrate is mixed with Diesel at a specific ratio to make ANFO. If you get that ratio wrong it wont be explosive. You can also add powdered aluminium to "boost" it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO
IMO We'll never be told the truth of what happened in this instance. |
Things are trickier in the safety realm - you, with your dynamite and ANFO were working on the "performance" side of things. You'd have been a little salty if all the charge did was spread some fertilizer around so therefore you did everything right to get something reliable.
Mother nature, screwing with us in the safety world, is patient and more than happy to fail until one day she doesn't.
AN classically needs shock, but it can develop its own through a deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT). Given enough of it, that isn't too hard. Think of something burning/deflagrating - it burns hotter and faster so the pressure goes up, when the pressure goes up it burns hotter and faster. Lather, rinse and repeat.
That's how the detonators on the 75-years-old-in-4-days Nagasaki bomb worked - and how those on many of our SLBMs and ICBMs still work today.