Chemical Agents Flashcards
Sarin (GB)
Nerve agent
No odor
Tabun (GA)
Nerve agent
Fruity odor
Soman (GD)
Nerve agent
Camphor, fruit odor
VX
Nerve agent
No odor
Nerve agents
Fruity odor
Tabun
Sarin
Soman
VX
Liquid nerve agents can have an onset of minutes to hours
Nitrogen mustard
Blister agent
Fishy musty odor
Sulfur mustard
Blister agent
Garlic, mustard odor
Lewisite
Blister agent
Odor of geraniums
Blister agents
Garlic
Mustard - symptoms don’t appear for several hours
Lewisite - immediate
Clear or yellow-brown
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) Plus precursors and isolation distance (chemical suicide)
Blood agent
Burnt almonds
Cyanide salts + acids
Isolate to 200’
Cyanogen chloride (CK)
Blood agent
Burnt almonds
Blood agents
Burnt almonds
Hydrogen cyanide
Cyanogen chloride
Immediate onset
Phosgene
Choking agent
Odor of musky hay (at 6 ppm)
- clear to pale yellow color
Chlorine
Choking agent
Odor of bleach
- yellow green color
Choking agents
Chlorine or grass odor
Phosgene
Chlorine
Ammonia
Immediate onset
Chemical agent additional information
All chemical agents except hydrogen cyanide are heavier than air.
All chemicals have immediate signs and symptom with the exception of mustards and phosgene, which may take hours.
Hydrogen cyanide is lighter than air.
Liquid nerve agents may have a delayed onset.
Acrolein
Irritation to nose at less than 10ppm. Also eye irritant.
Hydrogen chloride (HCL)
Colorless
Pungent odor, intensely irritating to eyes and respitory tract
Nitrogen oxides
Reddish brown gas
Irritating to lungs, but not irritation to eyes and nose is bearable, even when breathing in lethal dose.
Formaldehyde
Irritating, with a suffocating effect
Acetaldehyde
Fruity odor
Ingestion similar to alcohol intoxication
Hydrogen fluoride
Rotten eggs
From electrical substations
Sulfur hexaflourude
Odorless
Colorless
Electrical substations
Hydrogen sulfide
Plus precursors and isolation distance (chemical suicide)
Poly sulfide + acids
Rotten eggs
Isolate to 100’
Carbon monoxide
Plus precursors and isolation distance (chemical suicide)
Formic acid + sulfuric acids
Odorless
Isolate to 100’
Phosphine gas
Plus precursors and isolation distance (chemical suicide)
Aluminum sulfide + water
Fish or garlic odor
Isolate to 300’
Polyvinyl chloride
Chlorine