Professor of Chemistry Michelle Francl is among the experts The Washington Post turned to to explain the explosion and fire at a flooded Texas chemical plant in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
explains that liquid organic peroxides were the cause of the blast.
From the article:
Michelle Francl, a chemistry professor at Bryn Mawr, has an antique glass container labeled 鈥減eroxide鈥 in her office. A laboratory safety officer who caught sight of the jar almost bolted until Francl gave her assurances that it was scrubbed clean. Had it contained dry peroxide, she said, the jar could have combusted at a jolt.
鈥淧eroxides are basically tiny little molecular canisters of oxygen,鈥 Francl said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e designed to break apart and be highly reactive. It鈥檚 like having a whole bunch of fragile glass molecules.鈥