HAZMAT Materials: Properties & Effects Flashcards
Absorption (medical)
The process by which HM’s travel though body tissues until they reach the bloodstream.
Acid
A material with a pH value less than 7
Acute health effects
Health problems caused by relatively short exposure periods to a harmful substance that produce observable conditions such as eye irritation, coughing, dizziness, and skin burns.
Alpha Particle
A type of radiation that quickly loses energy and can travel only 1 or 2 inches from its source. Clothing or a sheet of paper can stop this type of energy. Alpha particles are not dangerous to plants, animals, or people unless the alpha-emitting substance has entered the body.
Asphyxiant
A material that causes the victim to suffocate.
Base
A material with a pH value greater than 7
Beta Particle
A type of radiation that is capable of traveling 10 to 15 feet. Heavier materials, such as metal and glass, can stop this type of energy.
Blister agents
Chemicals that cause the skin to blister.
Blood Agents
Chemicals that, when absorbed by the body, interfere with the transfer of oxygen from the blood to the cells.
Boiling Point
The temperature at which a liquid will continually give off vapors in sustained amounts and if held at that temperature long enough, will eventually turn completely into a gas.
Carcinogen
A cancer-causing agent.
Chemical change
The ability of a chemical to undergo an alteration in its chemical make-up, usually accompanied by a release of some form of energy.
Chlorine
A yellowish gas that is about 2.5 times heavier than air and slightly water-soluble. Chlorine has many industrial uses but also damages the lungs when inhaled; it is a choking agent.
Choking agent
A chemical designed to inhibit breathing and typically intended to incapacitate rather than kill.
Chronic health hazard
A health problem occurring after a long-term exposure to a substance.
Contamination
The process of transferring a hazardous material from its source to people, animals, the environment, or equipment, all of which may act as carriers for the material.
Convulsants
Chemicals capable of causing convulsions or seizures when absorbed by the body.
Corrosivity
The ability of a material to cause damage (on contact) to skin, eyes, or other parts on the body.
Expansion Ratio
A description of the volume increase that occurs when a liquid changes to a gas.
Exposure (HM)
The process by which people, animals, the environment, and equipment are subjected to or come into contact with a HM.
Fire point
The temperature at which sustained combustion will occur. The fire point is usually only slightly above the flash point for most materials.
Flammable Range
The range of concentrations between the lower and upper flammable limits.
Flammable Vapor
Any substances that exists in the gaseous state at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure and is capable of being ignited and burned when mixed with the proper proportions of air, oxygen, or other oxidizers.
Flash Point
The minimum temperature at which a liquid or a solid releases sufficient vapor to form an ignitable mixture with air.
Gamma Radiation
A type of radiation that can travel significant distances, penetrating most materials and passing through the body. Gamma radiation is the most destructive type of radiation to the human body.
Hazard
A material capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, or the environment; a material capable of causing harm.
HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) Filter
A filter capable of catching particles down to 0.3-micron size – much smaller than a typical dust or alpha radiation particle.
Ignition (autoignition) temperature
The minimum temperature at which a fuel, when heated, will ignite in air and continue to burn. Also called autoignition temperature.
Ingestion
Exposure to a HM by swallowing it.
Inhalation
Exposure to a HM by breathing it into the lungs.
Injection
Exposure to a HM by it entering cuts or other breaches in the skin.
Ionizing Radiation
Electromagnetic waves of such intensity that chemical bonds at the atomic level can be broken (creating an ion).
Irritants
Substances such as mace that can be dispersed to briefly incapacitate a person or groups of people.
Lewisite
A blister-forming agent that is an oily, colorless-to-dark brown liquid with an odor of geraniums.
Lower Flammable Limit (LFL)
The minimum amount of the gaseous fuel that must be present in the air for the air/fuel mixture to be flammable or explosive.
Nerve Agents
Toxic substances that attack the central nervous system in humans.
Neutrons
penetrating particles found in the nucleus of the atom that are removed through nuclear fusion or fission. Although neutrons are not radioactive, exposure to neutrons can create radiation.
pH
A measure of the acidity or basic nature of a material; more technically, an expression of the concentration of hydrogen ions in the substance.
Physical Change
A transformation in which a material changes its state of matter – for instance, from a liquid to a solid.
Pulmonary Edema
Fluid build-up in the lungs.
Radiation
The combined process of emission, transmission, and absorption of energy traveling by electromagnetic wave propagation between a region of higher temperature and a region of lower temperature.
Radioactive Isotope
An atom that has unequal numbers of protons and neutrons in the nucleus and that emits radioactivity.
Radioactivity
The spontaneous decay or disintegration of an unstable atomic nucleus accompanied by the emission of radiation.
Sarin
A nerve agent that is primarily a vapor hazard.
Secondary Contamination
The process by which a contaminant is carried out of the hot zone and contaminates people, animals, the environment, or equipment.
Sensitizer
A chemical that causes a large portion of people or animals to develop an allergic reaction after repeated exposure to the substance.
Specific Gravity
The weight of a liquid as compared to water.
State of matter
The physical state of a material – solid, liquid, or gas.
Sulfur Mustard
A clear, yellow, or amber oily liquid with a faint, sweet odor of mustard or garlic that may be dispersed in an aerosol form. It causes blistering of exposed skin.
Toxic
Poisonous
Toxicology
The study of the adverse effects of chemical or physical agents on living organisms.
Toxic Products of Combustion
Hazardous chemical compounds that are released when a material decomposes under heat.
TRACEMP
An acronym to help remember the effects and potential exposures to a HM incident: Thermal, radiation, asphyxia, chemical, etiologic, mechanical, and psychogenic.
Upper Flammable Limit (UFL)
The maximum amount of gaseous fuel that can be present in the air for the air/fuel mixture to be flammable or explosive.
Vapor
The gas phase of a substance, particularly of those substances that are normally liquids or solids at room temperatures.
Vapor Density
The weight of an airborne concentration (vapor or gas) as compared to an equal volume of dry air.
VX
A nerve agent
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Weapons whose use is intended to cause mass casualties, damage, and chaos.
A physical change is
a change in state.
Chemicals can enter the body four ways
Inhalation, absorption, ingestion, and injection.
