Order of magnitude estimate of Beirut explosion at 3 kilotons of TNT
@quantian1 correctly determined that this was an ammonium nitrate blast by analyzing the footage:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/quantian1/status/1290695231910875136" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/quantian1/status/1290695231910875136</a><p><i>CHEMISTRY FACT: Explosives have characteristic "detonation velocities" at which shockwaves expand.  Smartphone video records at 30 FPS, so the adjacent frames here suggest the front expands at ~100 m/(1/30 sec), or 3,000 m/sec.  Consistent with ammonium nitrate, not black powder.</i><p>This was confirmed a few hours later:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1290758551737192455" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1290758551737192455</a><p><i>Lebanese president blames 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left in warehouse unchecked for six years for devastating Beirut blast</i><p>EDIT: By the way, one of my friends was almost killed by the explosion. Thankfully they're ok. But they said:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/cyrilzakka/status/1290766217989500928" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/cyrilzakka/status/1290766217989500928</a><p><i>This was terrifying to experience. Hospitals are being overrun with injured people. We need blood donations and disaster relief. Help however you can.</i><p>As a US citizen, is there any way I can help directly? Is there any organization that ships blood donations directly to a disaster site? I suppose that would be very difficult, so the answer is probably no; it's frustrating not being able to assist.