That's a pretty fair amount of the stuff, nearly a gallon. Not looking good fortune in the mouth, so to speak, but supposedly, that is enough sarin to kill several thousand people. Why was this stuff such a dud?
It was a binary artillery shell, the 2 chemicals were seperate in the shell, would mix while in the air, then disperse in the air for a wider effect. As a roadside bomb, not as effective.
The stuff was a dud because this was a binary component shell that was meant to mix when the shell was properly fired from it's tube. It wasn't meant to be used as a landmine or IED.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert on chemical munitions, but I've read several good comments from people I know to be at least partially knowledgeable on the subject. That said, if what I have said is incorrect, someone pelase correct me.
Dud because it wasn't detonated properly. The warhead was binary, meaning two compartments are seperated, keeping the precursors apart. When launched properly, they mix together and then form Sarin... and when the round hits its target, it explodes and the gas is released. Thank God that this wasn't set off properly. a drop of this stuff the size of a pinhead is deadly.
This was a binary weapon. That is, the poison was in two non-poisonous precursors. When properly used, the agents are fully mixed and THEN dispersed by the shell. This howitzer shell was blown up by the sappers and did not "detonate" itself. Mixing was incomplete.
Google "binary chemical weapons"
Not an expert but from what I heard it is at it's MOST effective when the BINARY mixtures combine while the shell is in FLIGHT. This was exploded as an IED without the mixing having taken place.
just a guess...
--erik
The chemical artillery shell is designed to be stable in normal rough armed-forces handling, and only mix the two components thoroughly when fired from a howitzer and spun at 15,000 RPM by the rifling of the howitzer's barrel.
It sounds like what happened here is that the improvised explosion was enough to rupture the barrier between the two agents, but not sufficient to mix them significantly and produce more than a small quantity of sarin.
Also, the shell was detected by our armed forces before it detonated, and it probably had plenty of room around it when it went off.
This was a binary weapon, meaning that there were two components in the shell, that when mixed create Sarin gas.
The shell is designed to be fired from an artillery piece and during that firing the shell rotates very quickly. The "centrifuge" mechanism in the shell "mixes" the two ingredients.
When used as an IED, the liklihood that the two components will mix is very small.
See post #22 for a pretty good guess. It was reportedly a binary shell. That shell would be designed to mix the two contained chemicals in a planned manner upon firing. The fact that it was blown up as part of an IED probably disrupted the mixing process and only a little nerve gas was produced.
This shell was meant to mix 2 precursors while spinning in flight. Simply slapping a detonator on it for use as an IED meant that you get a small explosion and a poorly mixed batch of sarin. Probably lousy dispersal, too.
I heard this shell was dual chambered shell, that required the impact of firing to properly mix the agents.
Blowing the shell up dispersed the agents in opposite directions.
The shell was probably a "binary" round rather then just a container filled with the lethal agent. Binary munitions have two compartments; each is filled with a relatively harmless "precursor" chemical. The two ingredients need to be properly mixed to form the finished nerve agent. This makes for much safer storage and handling since the shells don't become lethal until fired. Upon firing the round is "spun up" by the rifling in the gun barrel which causes the two components to mix properly. The bursting charge then releases and disperses the agent.
The terrorist who fabricated the "IED" more then likely did not know that he had a chemical weapon shell. Thinking it was an ordinary HE round, he wired it as a roadside bobby-trap. When the shell exploded very little actual Sarin was produced because of the omitted mixing phase.
That's most likely why it seemed to be a "dud".
Regards,
GtG
"Not looking good fortune in the mouth, so to speak, but supposedly, that is enough sarin to kill several thousand people. Why was this stuff such a dud?"
This needs to be trumpeted in press conferences ad infinitum.
The liberal press must be countered, hard and heavy. Bush is a good communicator when he decides to be, but for the most part his communication is extremely poor, IMHO.
I'm tired of this "kinder, gentler" approach, like when he said Nick's Berg's beheading was, "Not justified, in any way." Forceful? No. Whining? Sounded like it to me.
the two agents didn't mix properly or else it would have been very bad.
The weapon is a "binary" weapon, which means it combines two non-poisonous chemicals to make Sarin. These chemicals are seperated by a partition in the shell. WHen the shell is fired from the gun, the partition ruptures, letting the chemicals mix during the flight to the target. WHen the shell detonates, it releases a cloud of sarin.
This shell was detonated before the chemicals mixed, resulting in most of the chemicals being dispersed before they could mix. The exposure probably happened only when both chemicals came to rest in the same spot, in isolated areas over the dispersal area. Lucky for us.