Iraq war veteran, husband-to-be, future farmer among 6 killed in Kansas grain elevator blast

Yahoo ^

[nuconvert]

The men killed in a grain elevator explosion in Kansas included an Iraq war veteran, an avid collector of model John Deere tractors who hoped to farm and a soon-to-be husband looking forward to a wedding only three weeks away.

[nuconvert]

1st I'd heard the number increased from 3 dead. Sad

[Buckeye McFrog]

for my Yinzer brethren who have never spent any time out on the Great Plains...

These grain elevator explosions are all too common and extremely deadly! Farming is not only hard work...it can be pretty damned dangerous too.

[libstripper]

This kind of an explosion is probably what sank the Lusitania, accoding to Bob Ballard, the man who found the wreck of the Titanic. His theory is that Luistania was at the eend of her crossing from the USA to the UK with mostly empty coal bunkers, the engine room crew had been moving the coal about constantly to maintain the ship's trim, and the bunkers were therefore filled with clouds of highly explosive coal dust. Thus, when the German torpedo hit the ship, the blast from the torpedo was like a detonator setting off an explosive, and Lusitania sank in about 15 minutes, her entire bottom being blown out.

[nuconvert]

Hadn’t heard that before. Interesting.

[FrogBurger]

Yeah, and 1271 cases of ammo helped the coal dust quite a bit:

http://www.lusitania.net/deadlycargo.htm

Don’t forget that Britain was forced to import a quarter of its ammo and most of its guncotton (cannon propellant). Every US ship heading to GB carried some war supplies.

[Harold Shea]

That dust in the air can be extremely dangerous

The Crescent Furniture factory exploded killing 3 from dust in the air in

Our town.Plus the Hoagenes plant has killed 5 so far,dust again

It seems like it had been a long time since a grain silo explosion

I had hoped they were tragedy of the past....guess not

[Squantos]

In my old EOD teams we used dust to boost our demolition of a structure many times. Bag of flour an a few milisecond delays here an there an economy of resources can take down very large enclosed spaces / buildings.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Dust implosions can be extremely powerful. A single cup of flour, when vaporized, can have the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

This is one of the reasons that coal mining is so incredibly dangerous, and mines have to be kept “swampy” with water, because the combination of coal dust and flammable gases in the mine is a recipe for disaster.

The reason for the danger is that fine dust has a vast surface area exposed to the air, because of the small size of particles, so oxidation is very fast.

[Nervous Tick]

A single cup of flour, when vaporized, can have the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

You don't say! Hmmm...

[hoosierham]

You can’t mean the US and British governments lied to the world and suckered the US into a European family feud?

[lacrew]

Interesting...but are there any reports of ships in that era accidentally blowing up, due to coal dust?

When I was a teenager, we would have an annual ritual - our neighbor’s father would recount his experience on the Luisitania. At the time, he was 16 y/o, and living in NY...but born in Britain. He was on the ship to go to England, lie about his age, and serve in WWI (all of which he did do, even after the sinking).

Sort of ironic that the Germans claimed that this was indeed a troop ship...and the US denied it.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There is a simple trick to show this, just by throwing a pinch of flour through the flame of a candle, which if not too compacted will give a pleasing “foomph”, with little harm. However, the danger curve goes up pretty dramatically from the size of “pinch”.

Even explosives experts, used to dynamite, c4, and gasoline explosions are wise to use great caution with “dust initiators”, as implosions are very different in character to the explosions they are used to. Hazard areas are hard to calculate and unpredictable, and mistakes can result in ruptured eardrums, lung and eye damage, and other problems far outside the blast area.

[Charlespg]

black book of improvised explosives lists this and aspirin too

[The Great RJ]

In October, 1985, the same type of grain elevator explosion killed three people in my home town in South Dakota.

[GreenLanternCorps]

The sinking of RMS Lusitania did not cause the entry of the US into World War I. It was sunk in May of 1915, almost two years before the US Declaration of War in April, 1917.

[hoosierham]

I think the record is fairly clear that the US leadership funneled arms and ammunition to Britain all the while claiming to be “neutral”.Sometimes Americans play awfully fast and loose with “the rules”.

Our “leaders’ have hoodwinked Americans into too many conflicts.

[archy]

In my old EOD teams we used dust to boost our demolition of a structure many times. Bag of flour an a few milisecond delays here an there an economy of resources can take down very large enclosed spaces / buildings.

We got taught a cute little trick using a doubled detcord line with two overhand knots in it inside a plactic PRC-25 radio battery bag filled with about a half canteen cup of flour and an instantaneous Special Engineers Blasting Cap Number 8, not the usual military M7] and a golf-ball sized wad of C4 or 808 with a 50ms delay cap. The one-two punch dust initiator charge would blow the sides and roof off the scrapped-out 40-foot railroad boxcars we got to *dismantle.*

And then we got to blow oil drums using *Lewis Bombs,* baby charges about the size of a tennis ball that were both explosive and incendiary, having a thermite/thermate powder mix kneaded into the C4. And something else, too, which I think I'll not mention.

Better things for better living through chemistry!

[Squantos]

Yep, vague is key with EOD..... we have to stay away from the details but as stated, bag of Betty Crocker and a couple of artillery simulators could be fun.

Stay Safe Archy !!!