FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Big Boom
Friday, February 09, 2007 Filed in:
Friday
Surprise!, History, Completely
irrelevant, Other resources
In 1988, at a facility near
Henderson, Nevada, something really bad - and really loud -
happened.
Pacific Engineering Production Company, aka PEPCON, was a producer of ammonium perchlorate - a very powerful oxidizer for rocket fuel. Ammonium perchlorate, as it happens, is very unstable and doesn't like fire one little bit.
Coincidentally, there was a repair crew on a television transmitter tower nearby, and not only did they witness the whole inferno they also captured an incredible video sequence of the main explosions. You just have to see it - watch for the shock wave as it travels across the ground!
You can read about the whole disaster at Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Pacific Engineering Production Company, aka PEPCON, was a producer of ammonium perchlorate - a very powerful oxidizer for rocket fuel. Ammonium perchlorate, as it happens, is very unstable and doesn't like fire one little bit.
Coincidentally, there was a repair crew on a television transmitter tower nearby, and not only did they witness the whole inferno they also captured an incredible video sequence of the main explosions. You just have to see it - watch for the shock wave as it travels across the ground!
You can read about the whole disaster at Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
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