What is the difference between tear gas and mustard gas

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Several different compounds are considered to be riot control agents. The most common compounds are known as chloroacetophenone CN and chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile CS. Other examples include chloropicrin PS , which is also used as a fumigant that is, a substance that uses fumes to disinfect an area ; bromobenzylcyanide CA ; dibenzoxazepine CR ; and combinations of various agents.

Where riot control agents are found and how they are used Riot control agents are used by law enforcement officials for crowd control and by individuals and the general public for personal protection for example, pepper spray. CS is also used in military settings to test the speed and ability of military personnel to use their gas masks.

How you could be exposed to riot control agents Because they are liquids or solids for example, powder , riot control agents such as CN and CS could be released in the air as fine droplets or particles. If agents are released into the air, people could be exposed to them through skin contact, eye contact, or breathing.

How riot control agents work The extent of poisoning caused by riot control agents depends on the amount of riot control agent to which a person was exposed, the location of exposure indoors versus outdoors , how the person was exposed, and the length of time of the exposure. Riot control agents work by causing irritation to the area of contact for example, eyes, skin, nose within seconds of exposure.

The effects of exposure to a riot control agent are usually short-lived 15—30 minutes after the person has been removed from the source and decontaminated cleaned off. Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to a riot control agent People exposed to riot control agents may experience some or all of the following symptoms immediately after exposure: Eyes: excessive tearing, burning, blurred vision, redness Nose: runny nose, burning, swelling Mouth: burning, irritation, difficulty swallowing, drooling Lungs: chest tightness, coughing, choking sensation, noisy breathing wheezing , shortness of breath Skin: burns, rash Other: nausea and vomiting Long-lasting exposure or exposure to a large dose of riot control agent, especially in a closed setting, may cause severe effects such as the following: Blindness Glaucoma a serious eye condition that can lead to blindness Immediate death due to severe chemical burns to the throat and lungs Respiratory failure possibly resulting in death Showing these signs and symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person has been exposed to riot control agents.

Long-term health effects of exposure to riot control agents Prolonged exposure, especially in an enclosed area, may lead to long-term effects such as eye problems including scarring, glaucoma, and cataracts, and may possibly cause breathing problems such as asthma. If symptoms go away soon after a person is removed from exposure to riot control agents, long-term health effects are unlikely to occur.

Its color and odor made it easy to spot, and since chlorine is water-soluble even soldiers without gas masks could minimize its effect by placing water-soaked - even urine-soaked - rags over their mouths and noses. Additionally, releasing the gas in a cloud posed problems, as the British learnt to their detriment when they attempted to use chlorine at Loos. The wind shifted, carrying the gas back onto their own men.

Phosgene is highly toxic, due to its ability to react with proteins in the alveoli of the lungs, disrupting the blood-air barrier, leading to suffocation. Allied soldiers pose for a picture while wearing their gas masks. Phosgene was much more effective and more deadly than chlorine, though one drawback was that the symptoms could sometimes take up to 48 hours to be manifest. The minimal immediate effects are lachrymatory. However, subsequently, it causes build-up of fluid in the lungs pulmonary edema , leading to death.

In pure liquid form this is colorless, but in WWI impure forms were used, which had a mustard color with an odor reminiscent of garlic or horseradish. An irritant and a strong vesicant blister-forming agent , it causes chemical burns on contact, with blisters oozing yellow fluid.

Initial exposure is symptomless, and by the time skin irritation begins, it is too late to take preventative measures. Windswept gas spreads across a battlefield in Europe. Because of a relatively high freezing point of 58 degrees Fahrenheit 14 degrees Celsius , mustard gas proved a less effective weapon in colder temperatures.

It wouldn't spread throughout a large area, and it would fall to the ground before troops inhaled the deadly gas. Mustard gas isn't something you find in nature. You won't discover it under a rock or buried in a mine shaft. The chemists who stumbled upon the compound quickly realized it could be deadly and even fatal if inhaled.

Many credit Fredrick Guthrie as the first to synthesize mustard gas in , and Dow Chemical as the first company to produce it during World War I [source: Holland ]. During World War I, a new style of fighting known as trench warfare pitted two armies close enough to each other that they could yell across the lines. But soldiers rarely ventured into the area between the two trenches commonly referred to as no man's land for fear of being gunned down, and battles would often settle into a stalemate.

Chemical agents such as mustard gas became a way to break that uneasy deadlock. Germany's first attempt at chemical weapons came in at the battle of Ypres in Belgium, in the form of chlorine gas. The gas cleared large sections of soldiers from the front lines, who fled once exposed, and ultimately killed 5, opposing troops [source: Encyclopaedia Britannica ].

The Germans used mustard gas for the first time during war in They outfitted artillery shells and grenades with mustard gas that they fired in the vicinity of the troop target. After encountering several attacks, the Allies referred to mustard gas as Hot Stuff or H. By the end of the war, more than two dozen chemical agents had injured 1 million soldiers and civilians, killed , people and earned the well-deserved title of weapons of mass destruction [source: Encyclopeadia Britannica ].

When you first encounter mustard gas, you may not even know anything is about to affect you. The best way to detect mustard gas is through smell.

Like your experience in the opening section of this article, soldiers exposed to mustard gas had a hard time detecting a gas attack but noticed a funny smell.

Even under heavy doses, however, their noses adapted to the smell quickly, giving them the impression that the gas had dissipated. Have you ever noticed you can't smell something, be it good or bad, after you've been sniffing it for a few minutes? The same principle applies during a mustard gas attack. So one of the most dangerous aspects of mustard gas doubles as one of its most desirable attributes as a weapon. We know mustard gas is difficult to detect unless you're under a direct attack.

It's even harder to notice in contaminated areas where the gas has settled. That posed a problem for soldiers walking through an exposed area that underwent an attack say two days earlier. The chemical agent would stay in the ground for weeks, depending on the temperature. The colder the ground, the longer the mustard gas would linger. At the time the Germans began using the chemical, gas masks proved useless because mustard gas could penetrate the filters and mask housing.

Not only that, but chemical suits hadn't been used yet, so mustard gas had the whole body to attack. And a little went a long way.

One drop of the chemical weapon could cause skin burns on people within 10 cubic meters [source: Ward ]. Mustard gas harmed and killed soldiers by the thousands and affected battle lines.

Because of this versatility, mustard gas served as the most desirable chemical agent during World War I for both sides. After a mustard gas attack, you might think nothing more about it for a few hours or even a day. But eventually you would see red spots forming on your skin that quickly turned into painful blisters. If you underwent a direct attack and inhaled mustard gas, it wouldn't take long to feel pain and swelling in your nose and throat as the blisters developed, sealing your airway.

The longer the exposure to mustard gas, the greater the damage it causes. Conversely, if you had a brief encounter, your body would heal faster, giving you a greater chance for survival.

In some cases, victims experiencing multiple exposures develop hypersensitivity to the deadly chemical agent. What is it made of? Superbugs are strains of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi that are resistant to most of the antibiotics and other medications commonly used to treat the infections that they cause.

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Find an Office. Contact Us. Tear Gas vs. Pepper Spray The two biggest differences between tear gas spray and pepper spray are their chemical makeup and delivery methods. Tear Gas Spray and Pepper Spray: Compare and Contrast Pepper spray and tear gas spray are both non-lethal irritants commonly used in self-defense and crowd control. Stream: The stream method has the largest range, which enables you to keep a significant distance between you and your attacker.

Similar to the stream method, the fogger creates a spray pattern.