Source: 10 Dead, 117 Injured In China Oil Truck Blast: Report Beijing: At least 10 people were killed and more than a hundred injured after an oil tanker truck exploded on a highway in China on Saturday, state media said. The force of the blast caused nearby homes and factories to collapse, the government said on social media, and sent huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the air as flames engulfed several cars. Dramatic video footage of the accident near Wenling city in the eastern province of Zhejiang published by state media showed a huge ball of fire shooting into the air as people screamed. In one clip, a large piece of debris is seen flying into the air before crashing onto some nearby buildings. <BLACK_HUMOR>The investigation has yet to find a Tesla.</BLACK_HUMOR> Source_2: Oil tanker truck explodes in blast so massive that houses and factories collapse in China | Daily Mail Online The video clearly shows a detonation shockwave. Just my first though was to wonder how the Tesla haters would twist this into their narrative. Bob Wilson
It doesn't seem that liquid-phase fuels should create that blast wave. But gaseous fuels that disperse a bit and mix with air, before ignition, could turn into a fuel-air detonation. Fuel air bomb.
there are several gnarly refinery explosion videos on YouTube. Seems like a lot of the byproduct gases at refineries have that potential. Whenever / if ever a lithium battery manufacturing plant goes up ..... dollars to donuts bet that that'll get a hundredfold more coverage than a Refinery explosion. .
Virtually all the gaseous hydrocarbon products from refineries have this potential. Even combustible mists and dusts can do it. Many grain silos, flour mills, coal mines, and industrial plants have exploded this way. After seeing coverage of a grain explosion as a tyke, apparently I set out to make a "carrot bomb" from powdered food products. Fortunately I was too young to be sufficiently resourceful. Though one doesn't need a true explosion in order to get "explosive" news coverage. Just about any fireball or really big fire can pick up the label in news stories, especially if accompanied by spectacular video. E.g. the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster did not have an actual explosion, just a giant fireball. But yes, any big battery plant fire is very likely to get far more coverage than ordinary refinery disasters. Just as any mass shooting gets more coverage than a hundred solo murders or many thousands of ho-hum traffic fatalities.
