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Petro (sic) only explodes in specific air-fuel situations

That seems to be true for ammonia as well, at least according to the Wikipedia page's [1] section on Combustion:

Ammonia does not burn readily or sustain combustion, except under narrow fuel-to-air mixtures of 15–28% ammonia by volume in air.

That doesn't sound too horrible, it feels like gasoline/petrol is easier to combust (although I know it's the fumes that are actually flammable).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia#Combustion



Maybe I wasn't clear. Ammonia is burning is not the worry. Ammonia in small quantities will kill you directly. no fire needed, it will kill you.


To be clear, "small quantities" are in units of parts per million. 5ppm (0.0005%) and the room smells of ammonia, 25ppm means you should be wearing a respirator, 500 ppm (0.05%) can be lethal.

Warning that 15% air-ammonia mixtures can burn is like warning that 100 kg of TNT could give you a concussion if it fell on your head. It's just not the concern at all.


This risk factor sounds less like a normal chemical substance and more on the level of uranium


It’s comparable to carbon monoxide, except you can’t smell that one.




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