What does lewisite look like?
Lewisite is an oily, colorless liquid in its pure form and can appear amber to black in its impure form. Lewisite has an odor like geraniums. Lewisite contains arsenic, a poisonous element.
What is lewisite made of?
Lewisite (C2H2AsCl3) is a vesicant that contains organic arsenic. During WWI, a U.S. chemical warfare research laboratory investigating arsenic compounds as potential war gases developed the potent vesicant, subsequently named “Lewisite” after the research group director.
Is lewisite a mustard gas?
If you had contact with mustard gas (also known as sulfur mustard, yperite, or nitrogen mustard) or lewisite, a natural compound that contains the poison arsenic, you may have certain related long-term illnesses.
Who used lewisite in ww2?
Although chemical weapons were not used in major combat during World War II, the Japanese used lewisite and mustard gas in China during most of the war years. In one horrible experiment, prisoners were forced to drink ‘crude water,’ which was a liquid form of lewisite or mustard gas.
Who invented lewisite?
Winford Lee Lewis
Retired chemist L. Philip Reiss, 79, with a photo of his grandfather, Winford Lee Lewis, the inventor of the chemical warfare agent lewisite.
What medication might be used to treat exposure to a nerve agent?
Nerve agent poisoning can be treated with the antidotes atropine and pralidoxime chloride (2-PAM chloride). Atropine has anticholinergic properties that are particularly effective at peripheral muscarinic sites, but are less effective at nicotinic sites.
Has lewisite been used?
Any part of the body that is contacted by the liquid or vapour suffers inflammation, burns, and tissue destruction. Lewisite was developed in retaliation for German gas attacks during World War I, but was never actually used. It was in the process of manufacture when the armistice was signed.
How do blister agents work?
Blister agents burn and blister the skin or any other part of the body they contact. Blister agents (whether as a gas, aerosol, or liquid) enter the body primarily through inhalation and dermal contact. They may act on the eyes, mucous membranes, lungs, and skin.
What does nerve agent do?
Nerve agents disrupt normal messaging from the nerves to the muscles. This causes muscles to become paralysed and can lead to the loss of many bodily functions. Agents will act within seconds or minutes if inhaled and slightly more slowly if exposure is the result of skin contamination.