Page 6 - Pressure Wave News Today

A hardware start. shot out like bullets, they pierced hard wood. some even melted from the heat. look at the back of it. how fast were these things moving when they went out? >> they can travel a thousand, 2,000 feet a second. >> thats faster than sound. >> thats right. theyll move faster than the speed of sound. these things will get in front of the shockwave and hit you before the pressure wave does. >> youre hit before you even hear it. >> thats right. >> here is what the blast looks like usi...

Up here. >> that shot will travel all the way. >> reporter: down below is the real shock. one bomb turns into thousands of weapons. scattered more than 100 yards. this was part of the pressure cooker. now mangles and razor sharp. no wonder so many people got hurt. instead of nails, we filled the pot with nuts from a hardware store. shot out like bullets, they pierced plywood. some melted from the heat. look at the back of it? how fast were these things moving? >> 1,000, 2,000 feet a second. >> r...

Moving when they went out of here? >> they can travel 1,000, 2,000 feet a second. theyll actually get in front of the shock wave before the pressure wave does. >> reporter: youre hit before you even hear it. >> thats right. >> reporter: heres what the blast looks like using a high-speed camera. an intense ball of fire, less than 20 feet across. but watch the white rings on the desert floor. thats the shock wave. engineers studying this blast say theres a lesson in here for first responders. lets...

>> the shock wave will travel all the bay. >> down below is the real shock. >> at this point we are looking for fragments. one bomb turned in to thousands of weapons. scattered more than 100 yards. this is part of the pressure cooker now mangled and razor sharp. >> no wonder so many people got hurt. >> instead of nails we filled the pot with nuts from a hardware store. shot out like bullets they pierced plywood. some melted from the heat. >> look at the back of it. >> they can travel, 1,000, 200...

Moving? >> they can travel 1,000 to 2,000 feet a second. >> reporter: thats faster than sound. >> these will get in front of the shock wave and hit you before the pressure wave does. >> reporter: youre hit before you even hear it? >> thats right. >> reporter: hears what the blast looks like using a high speed camera. an intense ball of fire less than 20 feet across, but watch the white rings on the desert floor. thats the shock wave. engineers studying this blast say theres a lesson here for fir...

Real shock. >> at this point were looking for fragments. one bomb -- >> reporter: turned into thousands of weapons, scattered more than 100 yards. this was part of the pressure cooker. now mangled and razor-sharp. no wonder so many people got hurt. instead of nails, we filled the pot with nuts from a hardware store, shot out like bullets, they pierced plywood, some melted from the heat. look at the back of it. how fast were these things moving when they went out of there? >> they can travel 1,00...

The real shock. >> at this point were looking for fragments. >> reporter: one bomb turned into thousands of weapons, scattered northern 100 yards. this is part of the pressure cooker. now manning sharp. no wonder so many people got hurt. instead of nails, we filled the pot with nuts from a hardware store, shot out like bullets, they pierced plywood. some even melted from the heat. look at the back of it. how fast were these things moving when they went out of there? >> they can travel a thousand...

Some who were critical became stable. this is a fluctuating and fluid situation for some time. >> is it your opinion as well it could have been worse? you could have had more people who lost their lives because of this? >> yeah. you know, i think theres no question, if you watched some of the tape again, you know, you see people who are pretty close to the blast, to the origin of the blast, were able to run out of there. there are a people a little further away who seemed to be injured. it seems...

>> the plant was pretty close to a mountain range and when the pressure wave went out, it rebounded off the mountain and came back with even more force. >> nearly everybody you talked to, no matter where they were at in las vegas, felt a tremendous hit. we realized that this was a serious, huge disaster. as you can see the damage, it really began to hit home. >> dennis todd watches from the mountain top in disbelief. >> i was not ready for the mother lode explosion when it came. it looked like n...

Businesses throughout the cities of henderson and las vegas. >> the plant was pretty close to a mountain range and when the pressure wave went out, it rebounded off the mountain and came back at an even more force. >> nearly everybody you talked to, no matter where they were at in las vegas, felt a tremendous hit. we realized that this was a serious, huge disaster. as you can see the damage, it really began to hit home. >> dennis todd watches from the mountain top in disbelief. >> i was not read...