I’ve long ranted about the futility of restricting explosive materials. Most of the time I’m a little circumspect on the details but after this massive explosion some news sources aren’t so circumspect:
Sugar dust is just one of a variety of forms of dust that can, under the right circumstances, combust and cause an explosion.
Explosions are not uncommon in places like grain silos, but have been known to happen in sugar factories in the U.S. and abroad, much like the one in Georgia Thursday.
The dust itself can be created in a variety of ways during the refining process.
Anything from sparks from machinery to a lit cigarette could have ignited the blaze.
The dust also has to have a certain concentration to support combustion fast enough to maintain the explosion.
Those are 100 foot high silos in the picture below.
Lets see them restrict access to sugar! It’s for the children…
Joe:
As mentioned in your post, any combustible material can be made to deflagrate (if not actually detonate) if finely powdered and suspended in sufficiently oxygen-laden air.
I design explosion-proof (NEMA 7 and 9) electrical systems as part of my job. We had the electrical enclosure manufacturer put on a little show for us about hazardous-rated dust. Part of the show was a small tube (2″ in diameter, maybe 12″ long) with a bulb-type puffer (think old-fashioned bicycle horn) attached at the bottom.
He took a packet of non-dairy creamer from the conference table, put it into the puffer, and poofed it into the cylinder. I don’t remember his ignition source, but the really loud “bang” it made when it went off surprised everyone.
It was a startling example of how something you wouldn’t think of as explosive (non-dairy creamer?) could explode when conditions were right/wrong.
Non-dairy creamer has long been a favorite in many pyrotechnic mixtures.
We use powdered sugar in Boomerite.
“Lets see them restrict access to sugar! It’s for the children…” Hahahaha. I know you were joking, but you know, it really would be good for kids if sugar was a little more restricted! But, I don’t want some busybody, much less government, doing the restricting. Then again, let them enjoy it while they can. Soon enough they will be adults with blooming waist lines.
PolyKahr