Aerosol bomb

William N. Sullivan. The Coupling of Science and Technology in the Early Development of the World War II Aerosol Bomb. Military Medicine, 136 (Feb. 1971) 157-158. Source for Sicily and African airbases. 

There are two related weapon systems in this category the thermobaric weapons and the Fuel Air Systems, also known in German as aerosol bombs (FAE, Fuel Air Explosive). Both function according to the same principle. 

An aerosol bomb, Fuel Air Explosive (FAE) or Fuel Air Bomb, is a weapon whose effect on the detonation of an aerosol or substance distributed as a dust cloud does not depend on an oxidizer being present in the molecule. A FAE bomb consists of a container with a flammable substance (e.g. ethylene oxide). Two explosive charges are used as detonators the first explosion causes the fuel to be distributed as fine particles into the air as an aerosol. Following this, microseconds - milliseconds later the aerosol is detonated, which results in the release of high pressure. 

Furthermore, aerosol bombs have a considerably larger heat effect than conventional explosive charges. Therefore these bombs are more effective at killing people and at the destruction of other soft targets such as unarmed vehicles and other targets. 

Cheap mixture of ammonium nitrate, water, aluminium powder and polystyrene adhesive as a bonding agent. First used in the 6.75 t free fall bomb BLU-82 ( Daisy cutter or aerosol bomb ). The peak pressure of the bomb ignited approximately 1 m above ground reaches 70 bar in a radius of 30 m. GSX has been used for mine field clearing and for Instant helicopter landing zones in the Viet Nam jungle-war. 

Aerosols (qv) are very finely divided sprays having droplet diameters of l ndash 30 p.m. They are used almost entirely as space sprays for appHcation to enclosures, particularly against flying insects. Aerosols are most conveniendy appHed by the familiar Hquefted gas dispersion or bomb but can be generated on a larger scale by rotary atomi2ers or twin duid atomi2ers. 

To help soldiers keep their aircraft, barracks, tents, foxholes, and forest areas clear of malarial mosquitoes, the refrigeration industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed an aerosol gun that sprayed a mixture of DDT, pyrethrum, and Thomas Midgley, Jr. s Freon 12 (Chapter 6). The insect bomb became so popular that it launched the postwar aerosol industry. 

Chapter 4 described methods for limiting the time of exposure to weapons of mass destruction that utilize no explosives (e.g., aerosol delivery) or use of conventional explosives (e.g., dirty bomb). The basic procedure is to leave the contaminated area as quickly as possible, enter a nearby building to shelter against airborne contamination, remove soiled articles of clothing, and wash all exposed body parts (including the mouth and hair) as soon as possible. In Chapter 4, the time factor is applied primarily to limit the chances of potential future health effects. In this section, the time factor is applied after a nuclear explosion to prevent serious bodily harm and death. 

The following rules provide guidance on how emergency responders can best minimize exposure to weapons of mass destruction that utilize no explosives (e.g., aerosol delivery of agent) or use conventional explosives (e.g., dirty bomb) ... 

Dlphenylamlnochlorarslne (DM) Is a canary-yellow crystalline solid (see Table 4-1). It Is Insoluble In water, but soluble In organic solvents It melts at 195°C and bolls at 410°C.S it was first prepared by Welland in Germany (1915) and independently (1918) by Adams in the United States. During and after World War I, it was known as Adamsite. Slm O described Its odor as that of burning fireworks. DM can be disseminated as an aerosol, either from pyrotechnic mixtures in grenades or bombs, sprayed as a solution, or dispersed as a dust. It has been described as an irritant smoke, a stemutator, and a "sneeze gas."... 

A local contamination of soil with Pu isotopes and 241 Am from an (unexploded) atomic bomb impact was caused by collision of two US army aeroplanes during a mid-air refuelling operation in the Palomares area, southern Spain (details in Garcia-Olivares Iranzo 1997 Montero Sanchez 2001). The collision destroyed both planes and four thermonuclear bombs fell in the area, three onto the soil surface and one into the Mediterranean sea. Owing to the heavy impact, radioactive material was released into the environment, part of it as aerosols that were transported further downwind. In total, a region of 226 ha was contaminated from this accident. 

The atmospheric concentration of natural and bomb-produced radionuclides has been measured at ground level for several years at three locations throughout the world. The manner in which the concentration decreased suggested a half-residence time for stratospheric aerosols of 11.8 months at 46°N latitude. The annual spring concentration maximum occurred one to four months earlier at 71°N than at 46°N. Cosmogenic 7Be attained a maximum concentration before the bomb-produced radionuclides at 71° N and later than the bomb-produced isotopes at 46°N. The rate of increase toward the annual peak concentration for most radionuclides could be approximated by an exponential in which the concentration doubled every 60 days likewise, the rate of decrease from the maximum concentration could be approximated by an exponential with a half-time of about 40 days for most radionuclides except 7Be at 46°N, which shows a half-time of about 60 days. 

For a nuclear weapon hurst in air. all materials in the fireball are vaporized. Condensation of fission products and other bomb materials is then governed by the saturation vapor pressures of the most abundant constituents. Primary debris can combine w ilh naturally-occurring aerosols, and almost all of (he fallout becomes tropospheric or stratospheric. If the weapon detonation takes place within a few hundred Icet of (either above or below) a land or water surface, large quaniilies of surface materials are drawn up or thrown into the air above Ihe place ol detonation. Condensation of radioactive nuclides in this material then leads in considerable quantities of local fallout, but some of the radioactivity still goes into tropospheric and stratospheric fallout. If the hurst occurs sufficiently fur underground, the surface is not bruken and no fallout results. 

The different pattern of fallout is mainly related to the particle size of the aerosol in the circumstances. The cumulative fallout of 137Cs in Cumbria from distant weapon tests reached a peak of 4 to 7 kBq m-2 (depending on annual rainfall) in 1964. Thus a few farms within about 1 km of the Windscale site received two to four times as much fallout of 137Cs and 90Sr from the oxide particles as they did subsequently from weapons tests. At the nearest large settlement, Seascale, which is 3 km from the Windscale site, the fallout in oxide particles and in bomb debris were of similar magnitude. 

The first US thermonuclear bomb was detonated near the ground at Bikini atoll in 1954, and much surface material was incorporated into the fireball, but most US and USSR thermonuclear tests were conducted at altitude, and relatively small amounts of material were vapourised. Consequently small particles were formed on condensation, and these have become attached to the general stratospheric aerosol (Harley, 1980). 

Public interest in radioactive aerosols began in the mid-1950s, when world-wide fallout of fission products from bomb tests was first observed. The H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954 had tragic consequences for the Japanese fisherman, and the inhabitants of the Ronge-lap Atoll, who were in the path of the fallout. In 1957, radio-iodine and other fission products, released in the accident to the Windscale reactor, were tracked over much of Europe, and these events were repeated on a much larger scale after the Chernobyl accident. 

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