Kinda OT--Chlorine Gas

[Bullethead 12]

I had a great-uncle at 2nd Ypres who survived the chlorine gas by pissing on his hanky and standing on his parapet so his nose was above the worst fo the fumes while shorter guys died around him. Good thing he had a full bladder when need arose. That was before they had gas masks, you know.

 

Anyway, today I was thinking of him when I had to go deal with a chlorine gas leak at my firefighting job. In this part of the world, it's not uncommon for drinking water to be chlorinated by bubbling pure chlorine gas into it just as it comes out of the well. IOW, hooked up to every water well is a cylinder of chlorine gas just like the Germans uncorked at 2nd Ypres. From the well, the water goes into a big tower were the chlorine is diluted by the other water in there so you don't notice it, but right at the well it's deadly. And this afternoon, this water well blew out and was spewing water with fairly high quantities of chlorine right on the edge of a densely populated subdivision, which just happened to be downwind. Not much of the chlorine had yet dissolved so much of it was being released right into the air.

 

Fortunately, this happened just around the corner from my fire station, so we got there muy pronto and put a fog stream on the source, thus knocking the gas out of the air. And the water utility guys got there right after we did and shut the well down. Thus, dangerous concentrations were very localized--only the houses immediately adjacent needed to be evacuated and only 2 folks went to the hospital, both of whom are doing fine last I heard. However, the whole neighborhood smelled like chlorine so I expect every single resident to claim some damages and sue the city.

 

 

[Hasse Wind 46]

Good to hear nothing too serious happened to anybody. Poison gas is a vile invention for use in warfare. And to think some of the guys who were spending all their time developing such gases during WW1 received Nobel prizes after the war...

[Flyby PC 23]

One of the reasons you're not supposed to use water straight from the tap for topping up your tropical fish tank is the background presence of Chlorine. It's recommended you let it sit for 24 hrs to let the Chlorine come out of solution.

 

Chlorine gas I believe kills by irritating the linings of your lungs, and your body reacts by producing mucus and fluids causing you to drown or die from asphyxia. Horrible. The only saving grace about chlorine was that you could see it, and it was relatively easy to protect your soft tissues. Chlorine gas has two molecules of Chlorine with a weak chemical bond. It makes compounds with other molecules very easily, which is why the urine hankerchief did actually work. The gas molecule would break up to form compounds with the urine. Don't be misled though, Chlorine was deadly in sufficient concentration.

 

The French developed Phosgene which was even more deadly, largely because it was invisible and undetectable. By the time you knew you were a victim, it was too late. It's a Chlorine compound with Carbon Monoxide which destroyed the oxygen transfer parts of your lungs so you died, or lost huge parts of lung function permanently and died of asphyxia. One drawback is that the damage can take 24hrs to reveal itself. Your enemy is destroyed, but may still be fighting for some time.

 

Mustard gas was perceived as the worst gas, because it wasn't a true 'killer'. It was an intense irritant or blistering agent, which would cause skin to blister and bleed, and destroy your mucus defences and cause internal bleeding. A victim might take days to die, and die in fits of agony with his eyes sealed shut. The cynical thing about disabling gases is that you take two combatants out the line. The poor victim, and the man to look after him. It also lingered in the trenches and polluted the ground itself. Not very pleasant for anybody. Mustard gas was the 'daddy' if you will, and the priciple chemical weapon stockpiled in mass for 'defence'. Prior to WW2, the US had over 80,000 tons. The UK had about 40,000 tons, and planned to use it if the Nazi's had invaded the British Isles. Scarey stuff.

 

The German scientist Fritz Haber was central to the German's first use of Chlorine gas in the trenches, and when he returned to Berlin after the attack, his wife shot herself in the chest. Speculation was rife about her motives, whether she saw her husband as a monster for what he had done, or some other factor. Clara, his wife had confided she found their marriage very oppresive.

 

 

On a lighter note there was this famous incident about a chemical you would kind in your own home!!! -

 

Dihydrogen monoxide:

 

• is called "
  hydroxyl
  acid
  ", the substance is the major component of
  acid rain
  .
• contributes to the "
  greenhouse effect
  ".
• may cause severe burns.
• is fatal if inhaled.
• contributes to the
  erosion
  of our natural landscape.
• accelerates
  corrosion
  and rusting of many metals.
• may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
• has been found in excised
  tumors
  of terminal
  cancer
  patients.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

• as an industrial solvent and coolant.
• in nuclear power plants.
• in the production of Styrofoam.
• as a fire retardant.
• in many forms of cruel animal research.
• in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
• as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Yes everybody relax,, dihydrogen monoxide is H20, or water.

 

 

 

 

[Bullethead 12]

One of the reasons you're not supposed to use water straight from the tap for topping up your tropical fish tank is the background presence of Chlorine. It's recommended you let it sit for 24 hrs to let the Chlorine come out of solution.

 

Also recommended if you're a homebrewer without an unchlorinated water well of your own. Yeast is a fungus, just the sort of thing the chlorine is intended to kill .

 

The French developed Phosgene which was even more deadly, largely because it was invisible and undetectable

 

Another joy of being a fireman is that burning air conditioner units tend to create a fair amount of phosgene. It has a distinctive smell, BTW, although you can't see it. Also, smoldering cotton fabrics (such as bedding, closets of clothing, etc.) tend to create hydrogen cyanide which can build up in the room to lethal concentrations. And then of course there's all the carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion, which IMHO is even more deadly. That stuff bonds to hemoglobin much better than oxygen and doens't let go, so breathing it reduces the effective amount of blood you have.

 

Yes everybody relax,, dihydrogen monoxide is H20, or water.

 

Yup. I always thought the "Alien" movies were funny with the acid blood of the monsters. Folks forget that most of our blood is not just water, but salt water, and that we breathe oxygen. Both are highly corrosive and oxygen in fact is extremely dangerous because it makes everything else burn.