20th Anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing

Ammonium nitrate finds its way into any good discussion of nitrogen chemistry.  This compound, used as a fertilizer in many cases, also can be used as an explosive.  A former student of mine had a parent that worked at a company that mixed ammonium nitrate and oil to produce a blasting material for construction purposes. The oil adds more reducing power to the redox reactions involved in the explosions, increasing their potency. Unfortunately, many terrorists have produced a similar mixture and used it in events such as the Alfred P. Murrah federal building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995.  Accidents involving ammonium nitrate also occur, including the Texas City disaster in 1947 (a blog entry from April 20, 2013, discusses that). In 2010, I visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, so I am posting pictures of that visit here.