View Full Version : Home explosion in Indianapolis - 80 homes damaged
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1962902658001/
Several homes completely destroyed, around 80 in the area have experienced damage. They've ruled out a meth lab and bombs.... if it's not gas related, what else could it have been?
Let's say the home owner was a reloader with a bunch of gun powder and primers... What kind of quantity would he have had to cause an explosion of this magnitude?
would smokeless powder in any quantity explode without being inside a sealed container? Say someone filled a 8' cube in the basement with gallon jugs of smokeless and lit it. I think you'd still only get a huge whoosh (and a house burned to the ground)
Circuits
11-12-2012, 11:09
would smokeless powder in any quantity explode without being inside a sealed container? Say someone filled a 8' cube in the basement with gallon jugs of smokeless and lit it. I think you'd still only get a huge whoosh (and a house burned to the ground)
You are correct. If not contained, no sub-ton amount of smokeless powder could cause such an explosion. Black powder, on the other hand, could do it in large enough quantities.
That's just scary.
The blond talking head was annoying.
The only thing that could cause a blast like that would be an underground gas leak.
The blond talking head was annoying.
And you'd hit that like a horny chimp, and you know it!
It's amazing that only two people died in light of what the aerial images show.
I was looking at that, crazy. I think that I am going to erect a sarcophagus over my house to protect me just in case.
CrufflerSteve
11-12-2012, 11:55
The broadcast says they have ruled out a bomb. Black powder leaves lots of residue and quite a smell. I once had a job working with more modern explosive and they also had a recognizable smell and residue. I'd assume that fire fighters know this stuff well.
It could have been some fume combination somehow mixing with air to turn the whole house into a bomb. When I was a kid I took some Coast Guard training in small boats and a boat with a bilge or compartment is liable to blow up. The instructor claimed that one cup of gasoline could equal a stick of dynamite. If the whole house filled with explosive fumes and then was trigger by a spark that might have done it. If someone there was on oxygen that could have contributed to the force.
Steve
SA Friday
11-12-2012, 11:57
One of the ways explosives are categorized are by their ability to produce a shock wave. The speed that the shock wave travels is the delineating factor in how 'powerful' the explosive material is. There are two basic categories of explosives based on shock wave; deflagration and detonation. It's a little more complicated than this because some explosives can transition from one to another based on the conditions, but for the basic understanding of this, it's easier to relate the basics. Deflagrating materials don't produce a sonic shockwave, they flash-burn. Detonating explosives do produce a sonic shock wave. Tri-nitro-toluene (TNT) and black powder are typically considered the materials sitting at the line between deflagration and detonation. Smokeless powder is considered a deflagrating material and therefore requires sealing encapsulation during flash-burn to produce maximum pressures. 80 lbs simply couldn't cause this type of damage even if encapsulated in a vessel made to maximize it's potential. A high yield explosive like C4, P3, RDX, that produces a sonic shock wave could do this type of damage, but probably not the same burning damage. A subsurface pocket of methane or propane would also be able to cause this level of shock wave, and would also have massive fire production.
Looks like there was a problem with the furnace.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/12/officials-seek-cause-indianapolis-explosion-that-leveled-neighborhood-and/?test=latestnews
theGinsue
11-12-2012, 17:28
http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt65/theGinsue/image.jpg
Test adding an image from my iPad. I previously added an image to the site from my office Windows 7 box. A member wasn't able to add a pic here.
There is certainly more to the story which we don't yet know. I have been involved in blowing up houses on purpose with both natural gas and propane with full instrumentation packages and using stochiometric mixtures. It is very HARD to get enough natural gas into a house to create an explosion of this level with the reduced pressure side the residential appliances operate on. Having investigated a large number of building explosions, I know it will take some time to sort it out. The furnace...speculation at this point.
There is certainly more to the story which we don't yet know. I have been involved in blowing up houses on purpose with both natural gas and propane with full instrumentation packages and using stochiometric mixtures. It is very HARD to get enough natural gas into a house to create an explosion of this level with the reduced pressure side the residential appliances operate on. Having investigated a large number of building explosions, I know it will take some time to sort it out. The furnace...speculation at this point.
Yeah, but haven't you ever seen any movies staring Steven Segull?
Saw the guy in one of those "Bourne" movies blow up a huge propane tank from about 200 ft. away with a 12 ga. loaded with birdshot. Ain't buying that bullshit either.
Limited GM
11-12-2012, 22:42
Years ago Ross Carter of Carter custom Guns was seriously burned when his house exploded. There was a serious investigation and to the best of my knowledge, they never did decide what the cause was.
And the focus shifts...http://news.yahoo.com/ind-home-explosion-now-homicide-investigation-232646565.html
spittoon
11-19-2012, 19:31
well i say it was a meth house or some one was litein farts
Looks like there was a problem with the furnace.
Understatement of the year.
Arrests made yesterday:
He said investigators determined that Shirley's home filled up with gas after a gas fireplace valve and a gas line regulator were removed. A microwave, apparently set to start on a timer, sparked the explosion, he said.
The group apparently tried to blow it up 8 days earlier and failed...
That does it. Absolutly no more houses. None of this shit happened when we were in caves.
You guys are just like the liberals. Shouldn't we be banning natural gas and microwaves? [ROFL2]At least run a background check before they give you a natural gas license?
This will require a multipronged response:
1. An immediate ban on assault fireplaces and assault microwaves
2. A 72 hour waiting period and background check for the purchase of natural gas.
3. "Common sense" limits on the number and type of natural gas appliances allowed for sale, as well as limits on the sale of natural gas itself.
Kraven251
12-22-2012, 17:03
Now we're cookin'
If it is with Gas you will need to a tax stamp.
I'm good. Only use electronic cooktop, with child lock and a rapid deluge system with a tamper alarm. For $10K, you can have one too.
HBARleatherneck
12-22-2012, 17:37
I'm good. Only use electronic cooktop, with child lock and a rapid deluge system with a tamper alarm. For $10K, you can have one too.
do you have a developmentally disabled child? Autistic?
Just curious. Why the super stove.
So if you happen to come to my house, you won't get hurt and can feel safe. Isn't that what it is all about?
(Sorry, apparently I was not sarcastic enough, however, I have designed such a system, I don't own one myself.)
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