Unknown Gas

I am considering a hypothetical question. Lets say there was a terrorist
attack on building using an unknown gas,
possibly an odorless asphyxiant or something. How could a person determine
what the gas was ? would one need expensive equipment or are their simple
tests that could be made to establish the substance ?

On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 16:12:42 +0200, "George" <[Only registered users see links. ]>
wrote:


The cheapest equipment is a canary. No kidding. When my son was in
them Middle East, they gave them all sorts of gas detection equipment,
but the word went around that its main purpose was to make the troops
fell that they were protected. Many of them went to local shops and
bought birds.

There are so-called four-gas detectors out there that have sensors in
them for oxygen, flammable gases, and two toxic gases of your choice.
They are meant to be used by persons about to enter confined spaces in
industry.

There are no sensors available at reasonable price that will reliably
detect nerve gases at the low levels required.

The metabolism of birds is very fast compared to ours, so they are
more sensitive to lack of oxygen, carbon monoxide, and presumably
other toxic gases, too.

Bill Penrose

Ditto Bill's answer.


--

Henry Boyter, Jr.
PhD Chemist

[Only registered users see links. ]
The opinions expressed are those of Dr. Boyter and
are provided for informational purposes only and
should not be used as advice. No warranty or
expression of professionalism is implied.


"William Penrose" <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message
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determine

Ditto, and tritto....

There is plenty of specialty instrumentation, but it isn't cheap. Some of
the nerve
poisons are active at levels so damn low they are frightening.

Probably, however, the canary will keel over before you do, if that is any
solice.

telkom,
I am assuming that disseminating and storing a nerve poison could be quite
risky and would require speciality equipment , in order to release such
small doses.

am guessing that what is being used is something that is readily available
from a retailer and that is cheap, i wouldnt be suprised if the perpetrators
have not established a business to sell this product legitemately. How the
product is being vented
into residences escapes me. The municipality has constructed a water
sub-station in this area quite recently.

Quite a few of my friends in the city have died prematurely from breathing
and blood related disorders, and quite a few people in the neighbourhood
have died. There are a few right now who are incapacitated to a significant
degree. And bloated tummies are a common thing around here.

George Jnr

"Larry Smith" <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message
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