Serious about Sarin

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=who-made-the-sarin

With the recent Sarin gas attacks in Syria, I decided to take a look at the infamous nerve gas at play in the tumultuous country. First of all attacks with Sarin gas are difficult to uncover because of the nature of the gas. It is a liquid that when placed into the tip of a rocket and shot into the air would cause the liquid to become a mist. It is the mist that causes the damage. Effects of contact with the mist can be as minor as painful eyes or a runny nose or a severe as death. The biology behind Sarin is simple, it interferes with the way that nerves work (hence, nerve gas), the nerves that are affected are the ones surrounding your lungs. The number of people affected depends on the weather and the geography among other factors.

The part that interests me here is the “CSI”ing that is going on to figure out who created the gas. There are major differences between the homemade stuff and the military grade stuff. This is where chemistry comes in. Scientists are trying to figure out who shot it off with the possibility of chemical analysis. Since there is such a difference between each type of homemade gas, there are major issues with figuring out which goes with which “recipe” and then compare that to the normal levels in each attacked area. That is too complicated so scientists hope that using the shell casings will help uncover the mystery of who attacked the people of Damascus.


Submitted by: Linnea Wethekam