Mustard Gas Research Paper

1227 Words5 Pages

Museum about WW1 By Mats Peletier V4A 1226 words Subject 1: Mustardgas Mustard gas, or sulfer mustard, was often used in ww1. It has the ability to form large blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs. Within 24 hours of exposure to mustard gas, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation, which gradually turns into large blisters filled with yellow fluid wherever the mustard gas contacted the skin. Mustard gas vapor easily penetrates clothing fabrics such as wool or cotton, so it is not only the exposed skin of victims that gets burned. The earliest awareness of mustard gas was possibly around 1822. But there were no physical effects then. Later on in 1854 a French chemist continued the research but also not mentioned any physical effects. In 1860 a British chemist wrote in his research that there was awareness of irritating effects. In 1886 a chemist, named Meyer, developed the mustard gas into a murder weapon. He tested the mustard gas on rabbits and most of them died. In 1913 the English chemist Clarke replaced phosphorus trichloride with hydrochloric acid in Meyer's formulation. Clarke spend months in the hospital with burned blisters on his skin because one of his flasks broke. Subject 2: Tanks The tank was …show more content…

As I said there were many poets but I will pick one in particular: Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was a soldier in the British army. He became one of the most famous poets in WW1. Sassoon was born in a wealthy Jewish family. He was sent to war in 1915 and gained a military cross for bringing back a wounded soldier during heavy fire. Later on Sassoon got wounded and wrote a letter to the military department that he refuses to go back. Because of shellshock, Sassoon needed to be hospitalized. During the war and in the hospital Sassoon wrote several poems as a soldier. He became successful with his poems as these were a good description of the life in