Creative Chemistry: Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical IndustriesSlosson, Edwin E. (Edwin Emery)
Science
Creative Chemistry: Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries
Slosson, Edwin E. (Edwin Emery)
Chemistry, Technical
Phosgene is a gas that may be condensed easily to a liquid by cooling it
down to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. A mixture of three-quarters chlorine with
one-quarter phosgene has been found most effective. By itself phosgene
has an inoffensive odor somewhat like green corn and so may fail to
arouse apprehension until a toxic concentration is reached. But even
small doses have such an effect upon the heart action for days afterward
that a slight exertion may prove fatal.
The compound manufactured in largest amount in America was chlorpicrin.
This, like the others, is not so unfamiliar as it seems. As may be seen
from its formula, CCl_{3}NO_{2}, it is formed by joining the nitric acid
radical (NO_{2}), found in all explosives, with the main part of
chloroform (HCCl_{3}). This is not quite so poisonous as phosgene, but
it has the advantage that it causes nausea and vomiting. The soldier so
affected is forced to take off his gas mask and then may fall victim to
more toxic gases sent over simultaneously.
Chlorpicrin is a liquid and is commonly loaded in a shell or bomb with
20 per cent. of tin chloride, which produces dense white fumes that go
through gas masks. It is made from picric acid (trinitrophenol), one of
the best known of the high explosives, by treatment with chlorine. The
chlorine is obtained, as it is in the household, from common bleaching
powder, or "chloride of lime." This is mixed with water to form a cream
in a steel still 18 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. A solution of
calcium picrate, that is, the lime salt of picric acid, is pumped in and
as the reaction begins the mixture heats up and the chlorpicrin distils
over with the steam. When the distillate is condensed the chlorpicrin,
being the heavier liquid, settles out under the layer of water and may
be drawn off to fill the shell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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