Asphalt and the Great Boston Molasses Disaster

[Bohandas]

A little bit over a century ago there was an incident in Boston where a 50 foot tall storage tank full of molasses burst, and because it was under such enormous pressure the molasses flowed quickly, like water.

That got me thinking, since asphalt is technically a liquid, how big a tank of refined asphalt* would be required in order to achieve the same effect?

*It's my understanding that crude bitumen has a viscosity not much higher than molasses, and that road grade asphalt is technically just sand and pelletized rubber with a only a little bit of actual asphalt mixed in, so pure refined asphalt would

[halfeye]

I've seen bricks of bitumen on building sites, it flows if you heat it, otherwise not. I think they are now saying glass isn't a liquid, but I think asphalt is nearer that than molasses (I've seen culinary cans of molasses, it was about as runny as golden syrup, which is to say like honey, which can be pretty variable).

[Tyndmyr]

If you highly pressurize asphalt, it ends up becoming bitumen and other products. So probably it's not going to be stored in a ridiculously tall vat.

Though if you want some horror of this sort, grains in large quantity tend to act like liquids. A liquid significantly lighter than water, so humans can sink into it, but still quite heavy enough to crush and suffocate you.

Grain elevator accidents can be quite lethal.

[Ionathus]

Ah yes, the Pitch Drop Experiment from Hell.

If you highly pressurize asphalt, it ends up becoming bitumen and other products. So probably it's not going to be stored in a ridiculously tall vat.

Though if you want some horror of this sort, grains in large quantity tend to act like liquids. A liquid significantly lighter than water, so humans can sink into it, but still quite heavy enough to crush and suffocate you.

Grain elevator accidents can be quite lethal.

I grew up in the rural midwest, and boy howdy can I tell you about the dangers of grain elevators. They would do "farm safety day" with us every year, with demonstrations like what happens when you touch an unguarded PTO shaft. Gather round and watch the straw man become naught but dust in the wind, tiny impressionable children!

Grain elevators were a HUGE deal at this hybrid Carnival/OSHA Conference. They always had a sort of strength test machine, with a rope coming out of a hole that measured how hard you pulled. It was titled "Can you pull your friend out of the grain elevator?" and the answer was "no. No you cannot. Do NOT **** around with grain elevators."

One of my favorite poems, T.R. Hummer's "Where You Go When She Sleeps," captures this in a very beautiful and haunting way.

Spoiler: WARNING – Poetry

Show

Where You Go When She Sleeps
By T. R. Hummer

What is it when a woman sleeps, her head bright
In your lap, in your hands, her breath easy now as though it had never been
Anything else, and you know she is dreaming, her eyelids
Jerk, but she is not troubled, it is a dream
That does not include you, but you are not troubled either,
It is too good to hold her while she sleeps, her hair falling
Richly on your hands, shining like metal, a color
That when you think of it you cannot name, as though it has just
Come into existence, dragging you into the world in the wake
Of its creation, out of whatever vacuum you were in before,
And you are like the boy you heard of once who fell
Into a silo full of oats, the silo emptying from below, oats
At the top swirling in a gold whirlpool, a bright eddy of grain, the boy,
You imagine, leaning over the edge to see it, the noon sun breaking
Into the center of the circle he watches, hot on his back, burning
And he forgets his father’s warning, stands on the edge, looks down,
The grain spinning, dizzy, and when he falls his arms go out, too thin
For wings, and he hears his father’s cry somewhere, but is gone
Already, down in the gold sea, spun deep in the heart of the silo,
And when they find him, his mouth, his throat, his lungs
Full of the gold that took him, he lies still, not seeing the world
Through his body but through the deep rush of the grain
Where he has gone and can never come back, though they drag him
Out, his father’s tears bright on both their faces, the farmhands
Standing by blank and amazed – you touch that unnamable
Color in her hair and you are gone into what is not fear or joy
But a whirling of sunlight and water and air full of shining dust
That takes you, a dream that is not of you but will let you
Into itself if you love enough, and will not, will never let you go.

[Bohandas]

Though if you want some horror of this sort, grains in large quantity tend to act like liquids. A liquid significantly lighter than water, so humans can sink into it, but still quite heavy enough to crush and suffocate you.

Grain elevator accidents can be quite lethal.

IIRC They also explode at the drop of a hat, is that correct?

EDIT:
Also, now I'm imagining Scrooge McDuck as a farmer

[Tvtyrant]

IIRC They also explode at the drop of a hat, is that correct?

EDIT:
Also, now I'm imagining Scrooge McDuck as a farmer

Only if they get stirred so air mixes in I believe. Otherwise it just burns.

[Tyndmyr]

I grew up in the rural midwest, and boy howdy can I tell you about the dangers of grain elevators. They would do "farm safety day" with us every year, with demonstrations like what happens when you touch an unguarded PTO shaft. Gather round and watch the straw man become naught but dust in the wind, tiny impressionable children!

I also grew up in the rural midwest! Never actually saw anyone get in such an accident, but warnings and tales came up all the time.

Definitely makes for a pretty unique kind of horror.

As for explosions, don't believe so, though grain is generally quite flammable, so a fire would go up very quick, and still be pretty dangerous if you're close.

[GloatingSwine]

IIRC They also explode at the drop of a hat, is that correct?

EDIT:
Also, now I'm imagining Scrooge McDuck as a farmer

They can get dust explosions. Most forms of fine dust burn quickly due to lots of surface area, so they all explode quite readily, and grain tends to give off lots of dust as you move it around.

[Ionathus]

They can get dust explosions. Most forms of fine dust burn quickly due to lots of surface area, so they all explode quite readily, and grain tends to give off lots of dust as you move it around.

I believe this "fine dust" effect is also behind all those early YouTube videos I remember watching, of people emptying 1,000s of packets of non-dairy creamer powder into a bucket and making a giant fireball with that alone!

Powder is no joke, kids.

[Tvtyrant]

I believe this "fine dust" effect is also behind all those early YouTube videos I remember watching, of people emptying 1,000s of packets of non-dairy creamer powder into a bucket and making a giant fireball with that alone!

Powder is no joke, kids.

One of my favorite fantasy weapons is in Runelords when the enemies use hot air balloons to pour a mixture of substances, which is substantially dry grass stalks, onto a wall as a big cloud of dust and ignite it to concuss the defenders on the wall. It is dumb even in context but technically should work to some extent (there wouldn't be enough dust for a really big explosion.)