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239:, but tests conducted in 1919 had suggested that mixtures of ammonium sulfate and nitrate containing less than 60% nitrate would not explode. On these grounds, the material handled by the plant, nominally a 50/50 mixture, was considered stable enough to be stored in 50,000-tonne lots, more than ten times the amount involved in the disaster. Indeed, nothing extraordinary had happened during an estimated 20,000 firings, until the fateful explosion on September 21.
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volume around the initiating charge, but increasing the proportion of nitrate to 55–60% greatly increases the explosive properties and creates a mixture whose detonation is sufficiently powerful to initiate detonation in a surrounding mixture of a lower nitrate concentration which would normally be considered minimally explosive. Changes in humidity, density, particle size in the mixture and homogeneity of crystal structure also affect the explosive properties.
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question was not of uniform composition and contained pockets of up to several dozen metric tons of mixture enriched in ammonium nitrate. It has therefore been proposed that one of the charges had been placed in or near such a pocket, exploding with sufficient violence to set off some of the surrounding lower-nitrate mixture.
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A few months before the incident, the manufacturing process had been changed in such a way as to lower the humidity level of the mixture from 3–4% to 2%, and also to lower the apparent density. Both these factors rendered the substance more likely to explode. There is also evidence that the lot in
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As all involved died in the explosion, the causes are not clear. However, according to modern sources and contrary to the above-mentioned 1919 tests, the "less than 60% nitrate = safe" criterion is inaccurate; in mixtures containing 50% nitrate, any explosion of the mixture is confined to a small
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90 by 125 m (300 by 410 ft) wide and 19 m (62 ft) deep. In these explosions 10% of the 4,500 t of fertilizer stored in the silo detonated. The explosions were heard as two loud bangs in north-eastern France and in
77:, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Knowledge.
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224:, thus the mixture of ammonium sulfate and nitrate compresses under its own weight, turning it into a plaster-like substance in the 20-metre-high (66 ft) silo. The workers needed to use
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539:"JUSTICE NOT BLIND IN GERMAN COURTS; Old Uniforms and Titles Protect Offenders Against Laws of the Republic. NEW ARMY LACKS RECRUITS Force Said to Be Below 100,000 Mamimum [
515:"A factual clarification and chemical-technical reassessment of the 1921 Oppau explosion disaster – the unforeseen explosivity of porous ammonium sulfate nitrate fertilizer"
365:"A factual clarification and chemical-technical reassessment of the 1921 Oppau explosion disaster - the unforeseen explosivity of porous ammonium sulfate nitrate fertilizer"
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Five hundred bodies were recovered within the first 48 hours, with the final death toll recorded being in excess of 560 people. The funeral was attended by German
President
482:"Ammonium Nitrate: Fertiliser, Oxidiser and Tertiary Explosive, A Review of Ammonium Nitrate Safety Issues based on Incidents, Research and Experience in the Safety Field"
254:, then part of Germany, 19 people had died when 30 metric tons of ammonium nitrate detonated under similar circumstances. It is not clear why this warning was not heeded.
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This highly dangerous procedure was in fact common practice. It was well known that ammonium nitrate was explosive, having been used extensively for this purpose during
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in 1919–1924, given amounts and exchange rates were not very descriptive). About 80 percent of all buildings in Oppau were destroyed, leaving 6,500 homeless. The
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to get it out, a problematic situation because they could not enter the silo and risk being buried in collapsing fertilizer. To ease their work, small charges of
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315:(30 km (19 mi) from Oppau), traffic was stopped by the mass of broken glass on the streets, a tram was derailed, and some roofs were destroyed.
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Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
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Two explosions, half a second apart, occurred at 7:32 am on
September 21, 1921, at Silo 110 of the plant, forming a
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Content in this edit is translated from the existing German
Knowledge article at ]; see its history for attribution.
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at the time to be equivalent to 1.7 million US dollars (since
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The plant began producing ammonium sulfate in 1911, but during
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1921 industrial disaster in present-day
Ludwigshafen, Germany
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Compared to ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate is strongly
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The damage to property was valued in 1922 at 321 million
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September 21, 1921, when approximately 4,500
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573:"THE OPPAU EXPLOSION AND THE CONFERENCE"
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838:49.51778°N 8.41833°E
630:"The Oppau Disaster"
610:. September 26, 1921
494:on 17 September 2020
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322:and Prime Minister
867:Explosions in 1921
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582:. October 31, 1921
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856:Categories
826:49°31′04″N
784:Mihăilești
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651:Also see:
646:2009-07-30
614:2017-07-31
586:2017-07-31
558:2017-07-31
524:2020-08-04
466:2015-04-06
408:: 745–750.
374:2020-08-14
351:References
313:Heidelberg
273:kilotonnes
201:Background
179:fertilizer
53:(May 2021)
829:8°25′06″E
790:Ryongchon
772:Port Neal
742:Faversham
498:11 August
185:plant in
128:talk page
80:Consider
48:in German
778:Toulouse
766:Roseburg
541:sic; sc.
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334:See also
301:Mannheim
252:Kriewald
230:dynamite
226:pickaxes
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269:Munich
264:crater
211:sulfur
168:tonnes
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