April the 22nd
2015 is the anniversary of a very sad
and unpleasant event in
Warfare it is the 100th anniversary of
the first use of chlorine as a poison
gas in the first world war it was used
by the
Germans in an attack on French troops
outside the Belgian City of
e which in the first world war the
English soldiers called wipers because
they couldn't pronounce French so what
happened was that a large amount of
chlorine more than 100 tons was released
from
cylinders and swept across the
battlefield onto the totally unprepared
troops chlorine gas is very corrosive
turns copper and brass the sort of
things that soldiers have on the metal
of their buckles turns green it attacks
the eyes and it also if it gets in the
lungs your lungs start filling up with
fluid so it's really
unpleasant and it was a huge
success large numbers of people and all
animals died and the whole front was
opened
up but the the Germans had not expected
it to be a success and didn't have the
troops that were could P forward to fill
the vacuum night fell and by the next
day the people were back the French or
troops were back to defend the front so
it really wasn't much Advantage this
whole chlorine attack was the idea of
Fritz Harbor the famous chemist that
we've all heard of for the harbor
process making ammonia he became really
infused if not obsessed with chemical
warfare and this
Obsession led to him being dubbed a
pretty Evil Genius in his lifetime and
he's still remembered for his role in
chemical warfare almost more than his
role in providing fertilizers that makes
all the food that we eat possible what
is
surprising is that a Canadian officer
the Canadians were next to the French
realized it was chlorine remarkably
quickly and so
primitive precautions were taken pretty
quickly nothing very
sophisticated people urinating onto
their handkerchiefs to cover their faces
so the water will absorb some of the
chlorine I don't think it is a very
effective so I would not suggest that
you try this if there is a chlorine
release the important thing is that this
opened up a whole era of chem chemical
warfare and within a few weeks if not
months both sides were firing chemicals
at the others there are two important
points that we need to remember the
first thing is that chlorine this greeny
yellow gas is really quite an unpleasant
material Neil our really tough
technician is quite frightened of it
many years ago he was exposed to a small
amount of chlorine gas and he still
remembers that was long before periodic
videos and all the safety precautions we
now
take but the second
point is that people are still using
chlorine as a chemical weapon in
yesterday's newspaper there was a story
that said that in Syria Barrel bombs of
chlorine are still being used so I think
it is important to remind you that
although chemistry is a fascinating and
exciting subject it can be misused and
it is our duty as chemist to make sure
that chemistry is used for the benefit
of
society not for its
destruction in the first world war
better chemical weapons than chlorine
particularly mustard gas which is a
compound of carbon hydrogen sulfur and
Chlor chlorine was invented which lasted
on the battlefields for
months and in the second world war and
afterwards so-called nerve gases where
just a few milligrams of the compound
can kill somebody so using chlorine is a
pretty primitive weapon but when you are
an armed
Force fighting against
civilians who have no
protection chlorine is a cheap and
pretty reliable way of making things
very uncomfortable if not actually
killing people and chlorine is available
industrially very easily whereas
chemical weapons are more difficult to
get hold of