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All blister agents currently known are denser than air, and are readily absorbed through the eyes, lungs, and skin. Effects of the two mustard agents are typically delayed: exposure to vapors becomes evident in 4 to 6 hours, and skin exposure in 2 to 48 hours. The effects of Lewisite are immediate.
Effects depend on the substance; hydrogen peroxide removes a bleached layer of skin, while nitric acid causes a characteristic color change to yellow in the skin, and silver nitrate produces noticeable black stains. Chemical burns may occur through direct contact on body surfaces, including skin and eyes, via inhalation, and/or by ingestion.
Mustard gas can remain in the ground for weeks, and it continues to cause ill effects. If mustard agent contaminates one's clothing and equipment while cold, then other people with whom they share an enclosed space could become poisoned as contaminated items warm up enough material to become an airborne toxic agent.
Sulfur mustard is a vesicant alkylating agent with strong cytotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties. After exposure, victims show skin irritations and blisters. [18] [19] This agent also causes respiratory tract lesions, bone marrow depression, and eye damage, the epithelial tissues of these organs being predominately affected ...
Lewisite (top row) and mustard gas test with concentrations from 0.01% to 0.06%. It can easily penetrate ordinary clothing and latex rubber gloves. Upon skin contact it causes immediate stinging, burning pain and itching that can last for 24 hours. Within minutes, a rash develops and the agent is absorbed through the skin.
Nitrogen mustard exposure does not cause symptoms until several hours to several days afterwards, but more severe exposure causes symptoms sooner. With severe exposure, eye injury can manifest within 1-2 hours, airway damage within 2-6 hours, and skin damage within 6-12 hours (sooner in hot or humid weather).
The effect of vesicant (blister) agents in the form of mustard gas (sulfur mustard, Bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide) on bone marrow and white blood cells had been known since the First World War. [16] In 1935 several lines of chemical and biological research yielded results that would be explored after the start of the Second World War.
The idealized combustion of mustard gas in oxygen produces hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, in addition to carbon dioxide and water: (ClC 2 H 4) 2 S + 7 O 2 → 4 CO 2 + 2 H 2 O + 2 HCl + H 2 SO 4. Bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide reacts with sodium hydroxide, giving divinyl sulfide: (ClC 2 H 4) 2 S + 2 NaOH → (CH 2 =CH) 2 S + 2 H 2 O + 2 NaCl ...