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A comment on Ask HN: Could the fertilizer shortage be caused by weapons manufacturing?.

Re:Ask HN: Could the fertilizer shortage be caused by weapon... by eimrine on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @09:09AM (#31247809)
Ammonium Nitrate can make a big boom but I don't think that all boomable chemicals are being made from the same ingredients.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Could the fertilizer shortage be caused by weapon... by PaulHoule on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @09:54AM (#31248328)
Almost all explosives except for this stuff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_peroxide

contain nitrogen. (TATP is not used as a military explosive because it will blow up if you look at it the wrong way.) In a lot of cases that is going to come from nitric acid which in turn is made from ammonia which could otherwise be used to make fertilizer.

As you point out, Ammonium Nitrate is a powerful explosive which is commonly used in mining, road construction and other peaceful purposes. Ammonium Nitrate is also popular among terrorists because it is easy to get and highly effective in the form of a truck bomb.

Up until WWII Ammonium Nitrate was mixed with TNT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatol

but AN hasn't been used as a military explosive for a long time since now they mix TNT with RDX, Aluminum powder, and other things.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Could the fertilizer shortage be caused by weapon... by h2odragon on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @11:02AM (#31249196)
What's the ratio of "nitrates input" for fertilizer vs explosives? A ton of ammonia is fertilizer all by itself but processed might only be 100kg of TNT (totally ignoring all the other inputs).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Could the fertilizer shortage be caused by weapon... by lil_dispaches on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @09:47AM (#31248249)
AFAIK, without going nuclear, the biggest booms come from organic chemistry.
[ Parent | on HN ]