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Somewhere inbetween is the truckload which is enough when detonated a few feet from major support columns.

But doesn't leave a crater commensurate-sized directly under the bomb and doesn't damage buildings across the street.

Bombs lose their punch as they travel through space. The do the most damage against the material they are directly in contact with. In this case, that would be the street. The street directly under the truck should have had more damage to it than the murrah bldg.

"Bombs lose their punch as they travel through space. The do the most damage against the material they are directly in contact with. In this case, that would be the street. The street directly under the truck should have had more damage to it than the murrah bldg."

You are essentially correct in your statement. The exception, would be if any type of substantial tamping were employed, such as the sandbagging of the floor of the truck and the side furthest from the Murrah building, which would have directed most of the force towards the Murrah.

Ammonium Nitrate is a slow burning (or detonating) explosive (around 12k fps) and does its work by pushing and not cutting, which why it is used for cratering. In any case, given where the truck was located, I would have expected to find many reinforced columns left primarily intact, if not some even left standing (in some form) and a substantial crater to have been left under the truck.

doesn't damage buildings across the street

I've seen this stated numerous times, that buildings across the street were not damaged. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

A. Two large churchs on corners directly SE and SW of the Murrah Bldg, on 4th street were heavily damaged.

B. The Athenai building NW west of the Murrah bldg, and the building occupied by the water resources board next door to the Athenai had to be demolished since the damage was so extensive. If memory serves, the water resources building suffered fatalities.

C. The Journal Record building directly north of the Murrah bldg was extensively damaged, and many injuries.

D. Smaller structures blocks away had structural damage and had to be destroyed.

Note that the two churches were partially shielded from the blast by the Murrah building its self, and the buildings directly north and on the NW corner were at minimum (best guess) 200 feet from the entrance to the Murrah bldg where the truck was parked.

Also note, the truck was parked a sidewalk width away from the front wall of the Murrah building.

I dont know where the story of other buildings "right" across the street not being damaged came from. As a resident of OKC, I can assure all that "right" across the street isn't a very good picture of where those buildings stood, pre April 19th.

Finally, NO, I don't want to enter into a drawn out pi$$ing contest with anyone. If you doubt me do the research. There must be some old maps around. The Daily Oklahoman archives will have extensive coverage.

Regards