Reply to: Quarry blast video - what do you think?

[expat]

...
Seriously cool. I envy you.

Seconded. Not many on here I'd say that about.

[wxman]

Damm - I have had to call off todays filming due to low light (mist and rain)

I will try again tomorrow

[wxman]

LOL that is def only 8 metric Tonnes of liquid explosive poured into about 40 tubes, 20 meters deep. Each tube is then fired 8ms apart to reduce the shock wave and to reduce the air shock wave. That’s is why you see the bright flashes creep across the rock face prior to the rock face exploding.

As an aside I *thought* that a typical WWII air release bomb was 500Lbs – I might be wrong however.

Aslo qDos - my must live quite close to each other? I am on Grange Lane, off Walton way

[bogeyman]

I assume that the 8000 tons was a miss-spelling. More likely 8 tonnes.

But, it's not for me to correct wxman. Kudos man!

Yes, he corrected.

8000 tons - that would be quite a bang

[Churchill]

Did you say the explosion you saw used 6 tons of explosive? The heaviest bomb in WW2 was Grand Slam, a Barnes Wallis special, which weighed about 10 tons of which 4 tons was explosive. It was used against U boat pens and viaducts

If the one tomorrow uses 8000 tons, won't the granite be blown sky high in a cloud of powder?

I assume that the 8000 tons was a miss-spelling. More likely 8 tonnes.

But, it's not for me to correct wxman. Kudos man!

[KentPhilip]

Why can't you put it on youtube you heathen?

[OwlHoot]

.. The blast that I filmed was the equivalent of 30,000 WWII bombs going off in one location (blast was contained with granite)

Cant wait to see the 8,000 Tonne explosion tomorrow - will post video. ..

Did you say the explosion you saw used 6 tons of explosive? The heaviest bomb in WW2 was Grand Slam, a Barnes Wallis special, which weighed about 10 tons of which 4 tons was explosive. It was used against U boat pens and viaducts

If the one tomorrow uses 8000 tons, won't the granite be blown sky high in a cloud of powder?

[TimberWolf]

Boomed.

Nice footage.

[hyperD]

In fitting with the infamous derring dos of the 5th November 1605, I suggest an effigy (or actual, if you can coax him out of his Saudi lair) of Gordon Brown placed in the epicentre of the explosives.

You may not get a great deal of appreciation of scale of the explosion, but you can guarantee your video and the heartfelt sentiments of UK taxpayer’s gratitude will go viral…

[Qdos Contractor]

I've just moved to Mountsorrel. Nice to see exactly what the blast looks like - the noise/vibrations are sometimes momentarily frightening and I live at the other end of the village (near the McCanns).

[tay]

Pretty cool... but

What would make it better is a sense of perspective even if you need to pan back slightly to get something else into the frame. Replays can always be edited to show closer detail of the explosion.

I am sure a tree or digger would be tiny in comparism, and the wow factor would ramp up.

Even if you need to pan around beforehand, just to get the sense of scale.

[wxman]

Yes I agree, I will deal with this in the edit - I think that running through the real time blast twice would be better and then dropping the * 5% time laspe but keeping the 20% time laspe - I think that I need to add a few more frames to the backwards forwards section at the end

Cant wait for the 8 tonne blast tomorrow

Will post video here.

[Moscow Mule]

You should ask them if you can put a crash test dummy on the top of the blast to get some scale...

[NotAllThere]

WOW

The original shot was too short, must last longer. When you cut to the slower-mo, make sure there's not too much of nothing happening.

Seriously cool. I envy you.

[wxman]

Thanks for the comments so far (more welcome) and yes this is Barden Wood Quarry – Mountsorrel – how did you know ??

This first shot was really a warm up shot – tomorrow is the real deal! I plan to tripod mount the camera closer to the blast and then retire (fitting really on bonfire night don’t you think?) so this will remove any “wow” comments from my self – believe me at the time I really could not contain myself.

I could do with some thing that describes the scale of the blast – this will be tough to do unless I capture a truck / person near to the blast site before the event occurs and use this as a reference.

As an aside, the explosive used is actually a liquid! Poured over the detonators which are buried @ 20 meters deep. The flash that can be seen is on top of the explosive bore hole, of which there about 40. Each blast timed to occur 8ms after the last to reduce the shock wave.

Before each blast the rock face is laser and GPS mapped and sonically probed to ensure that the blast will dislodge rock and not blast upwards. I remind you that 6 tonnes of explosive was used in this blast, which shifted some 300 – 400 tonnes of rock! The scale does not really show up in the video.

In comparison the Canary Wharf explosion( 10 Feb 1996) was just 0.5 tonnes and created immense damage because it was not contained. Also typical WWII bombs were 500lbs (0.2 metric tonnes).

The blast that I filmed was the equivalent of 30,000 WWII bombs going off in one location (blast was contained with granite)

Cant wait to see the 8,000 Tonne explosion tomorrow - will post video.

Sure beats a day away from the office coding C#