Tank truck with 60 TONS of gas explodes in Ulaanbaatar
RT
The accident in Mongolia’s capital has killed six and left 14 injured. A truck carrying 60 tons of liquified natural gas (LNG) collided with a car and exploded in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.
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| Truck & cryogenic trailer |
LNG is about half as dense as water. Cooling natural gas to −260 °F will turn it into a liquid, reducing its volume by a factor of 600. Tanks are lightly pressurized at around 4 or 5 PSI (pounds per square inch). A single trailer can carry about 30 tons of LNG, so either there were two trailers involved in this accident or somebody got the number wrong. At least they were only off by a factor of 2, not 2 zillion. Not bad for an innumerate journalist. Where is Ulaanbaatar anyway? Middle of nowhere, that's where:
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| Ulaanbaatar Mongolia |
Note that just past the west end of Mongolia there is a short stretch of border between Russia and China. Mongolia is surrounded by Russia and China.
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| SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy Booster |
SpaceX Starship Heavy Booster holds 750 tons of liquid methane (LNG is basically methane), so it's going to take 25 trailer loads to fill the booster.
That's why SpaceX counts it as a huge win when the Superheavy makes it into the air a bit: 750 tons of methane going up on the ground would flatten the whole launch complex.
ReplyDeleteThis whole rocket science stuff is pretty scary when you think about it...
Yeah, TV coverage is close enough for me.
ReplyDelete