What Happens in an Explosion?
In an Explosion, solids and/or liquids combine with each other to create VERY hot gas. This Gas pushes whatever is next to it away from it, very far away. To create an explosion you need
fuel
oxygen
and a starter (egg: match + paper)
Most people know the starter to be the detonator.The detonator lights up the fuel and the oxygen. This creates a really fast burn.
Explosions today, use fertiliser. Fertiliser was actually found by accident. It was a very unfortunate accident for many. It was the deadliest industrial accident in the USA ever.
On April the 16th in 1947, one out of two ships that were docked at harbor, both carrying around 1000 to 2000 tons of fertiliser caught alight. Around 8am the first smoke had been spotted from the ship Grandcamp and the fire department had been called in. By around 9 am, there was no luck with their efforts to put out the fire. Meanwhile people had started to gather around the harbor to see the fire. The crowd thought they were at a safe distance away. Eventually, the ship hatches blew apart from the pressure of the steam inside. Then Yellow-orange smoke blow out. (This colour was produced by the nitrogen oxide being burnt) The unusual colour of smoke attached even more spectators to watch the ships burn. The water then started to boil from the heat, vaporizsiorsing into steam as soon as it touched the ship. After one hour and 12 minutes of the ship burning away, the ammonium nitrate had reached breaking point. Grandcamp detonated causing great destruction and damage throughout the port. The blast was seen over 160 km away. The blast flatten over 1,000 building on land. Two planes close by had their wings blown off from the blast. Over 60km away windows of houses were shattered. People felt the shock over 160km away. The official casualty count it around 567, including all crewmen who stayed on the grandcamp. All but one member of the 29-man Texas City volunteer fire department were killed in the initial explosion on the docks fighting the fire.
No-one really knew what started the fertiliser to catch on fire though some think that a worker on one of the ships must have been smoking. The steam also may have contributed to the fire by converting the ammonium nitrate to nitrous oxide.