OH GOD NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FOOL?!

[ProfessorWes]

That's pretty much what I just said out loud when watching the following clip. Everybody within at least a city block of that tanker should have been exiting the area at warp speed.

 

[Watertender]

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson..... D'oh!!!

 

[41Dude]

Wow. That made me ill to watch.
Incredibly brave or incredibly stupid?

 

[jimbo1096]

Have no idea why there was smoke, but apparently whatever the guy did killed him.
And another Darwin winner is awarded the ultimate prize

 

[contender]

"Play stupid games,, win stupid prizes."

Sheesh,, Darwin is being kept busy lately.

 

[cowboycopus]

WOW!!!

 

[Snake45]

I have NO IDEA what nitric acid is or why it's doing whatever it's doing/did, but even I could see that This Did Not End Well.

 

[Sapo]

I worked with N2O4 (nitrogen tetroxide) to produce NO (nitric oxide) with nitric acid being a byproduct some 45 years ago. The brown "smoke" is characteristic of escaping product and possibly an indication of a reaction. If the trailer was loaded with nitric acid and had foreign material inside, a reaction causing the liquid to boil/react may have occurred. Pressure increases and you see the result. Strong acids and strong bases react violently. Being blasted with acid would be a horrible death.

 

[Jeepnik]

Pressure relief was venting due to chemical reaction creating heat and pressure. Either the hatch blew due to over pressure or he, and likely due to his position and actions, kicked the hatch latch open. Note the liquid stream jetted over twenty feet in a full hatch stream. A blown hatch usually vents sideways as it's the seal that goes first. I've seen that with liquid asphalt when a Mexican truck driver kicked the hatch open on a load that had emulsion (think blacktop coating) in a previous load that wasn't rinsed properly. He didn't survive either.

 

[BarkeyVA]

The original post in X had additional information. According the written X report, it was Ferric Chloride, not nitric acid. It was also reported that the person survived.

 

[ProfessorWes]

If so, well, hot, pressurized ferric chloride isn't much of an improvement. And for what values of "survived?"

https://www.bing.com/search?q=msds+ferric+chloride&form=ANNTH1&refig=cab41f5ea1424019b8e246579d9f6469&sp=1&lq=0&qs=MT&pq=msds+ferric+chlor&sc=6-17&cvid=cab41f5ea1424019b8e246579d9f6469&showconv=1

1. Hazards:
   • Corrosive: Causes severe skin burns and eye damage.
   • Flammable: May be corrosive to metals.
   • Harmful if Swallowed: Avoid ingestion.
   • Toxic to Aquatic Life: With long-lasting effects2.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I don't know anything about ferric chloride but I have a little experience with nitric as well as sulfuric acid back in my lab days. Nasty stuff. A female trainer who taught me had some bad scars from a nitric acid accident.

 

[g5m]

It looked like fumes from nitric acid. What a disaster.

 

[eveled]

I wonder what he thought he was going to do up there? Poor guy probably wishes he didn't survive.

 

[arfmel]

I feel sorry for the people in the car sitting next to that truck. I guess they couldn't see what was happening to the tank of chemicals.

 

[Jeepnik]

While I can't read the signs I suspect this is China. Their safety protocols are pitiful. It's very possible the driver had no idea the danger he faced and wanted to preserve his job.

The Mexican truck driver I mentioned was driving a vehicle that should never have been allowed into the US. He may well have not had a license. These guys had no clue of the dangers of hot liquid asphalt.

NAFTA allowed them to drive up here from Mexico pick up a load and return as long as they completed their trip during certain nighttime hours. It was a disaster that wasn't waiting to happen, it happened with some regularity

 

[blume357]

If it was nitric acid.... that stuff will eat you.... the reason I was not allowed to take chemistry in high school was the science teacher from the previous year had figured out I was stealing some of the stuff trying to make high explosives....

My doctor explained to me two years ago that the statistics showing the average life span of an American male is skewed... it figures in all males and if you look at the ones that actually make it past 30, most live to be in their 90's. (Still not really sure if this is good or bad news.)