Sciencemadness Discussion Board

War agents discovery(nerve,blistering...etc)

Tabun - 14-6-2015 at 00:17

Got a question....when these things were discovered,how were their effects discovered?I mean...when some explosive were discovered it was an "accident"(like black powder) or someone almost got badly injured by them.Talking about toxic things,were there any cases when the person who discovered these things got killed or badly poisoned?
And why are some of them called "gases"?Is it to make clear the fact that even if it's a liquid it's so toxic that the vapours may kill you?I see that sarin,yperite and some others are called "gases" but when it comes to chlorine,phosgene and other ones which are actually gases the "gas" word is not mentioned too often....

Mabus - 14-6-2015 at 10:52

Sarin and the other nerve agents were originally developed as pesticides, but they proved to be too toxic for humans so were only used by the military. The people who invented it didn't seem to have been poisoned, and most of them died in their 80's.

Bot0nist - 14-6-2015 at 13:54

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_gas

"Clarke was hospitalized for two months for burns after one of his flasks broke. According to Meyer, Fischer's report on this accident to the German Chemical Society sent the German Empire on the road to chemical weapons"

Fenir - 15-6-2015 at 13:19

A lot of war gases were discovered as byproducts of the dye industry. For example, chlorine gas was a byproduct of Bayer's factories during WWI. I also believe that chloroacetone was a precursor to a red dye.

phlogiston - 15-6-2015 at 13:36

Wikipedia, mentions this regarding the discoverer of the G-series of nerve agents:
Quote:
In January 1937, Schrader observed the effects of nerve agents on human beings first-hand when a drop of tabun spilled onto a lab bench. Within minutes he and his laboratory assistant began to experience miosis (constriction of the pupils of the eyes), dizziness and severe shortness of breath. It took them three weeks to recover fully.


[Edited on 15-6-2015 by phlogiston]