Quantities of Poison Gas

Opinions differ as to the concentration of poison gas alleged to have been used in the presumed executions (see next chapter). The only indirect source available to us are the alleged execution times reported by the eyewitnesses, which in turn permit a crude estimate of the concentrations used. These reported execution times all allege a gassing time of only a few minutes.465 

466 504 m3 empty volume of the cellar minus 75 m3 occupied by 1,000 persons. 

467 At least because the initial evaporation of the hydrogen cyanide would have led to an immediate condensation of the environmental humidity onto the carrier, more or less interrupting the further evaporation of hydrogen cyanide see also chapter 7.2. 

These considerations show that a concentration of hydrogen cya- 

468 Such is, for example, the hypothesis brought forth by G. Wellers, op. cit. (note 55), which is similarly incorrect in its findings, due to the incorrect hypothesis that lower quantities of Zyklon B were used J. Bailer, op. cit. (note 52) W. Wegner, op. cit. (note 49). 

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The theory occasionally advanced, that the victims had absorbed all of the poison gas,135 would require that only very small quantities of poison gas were used, so that the people could have acted as living filters for the entire duration of evaporation, i.e., the time for which the Zyklon B released the poison (at least 2 hours). This means that the doses of poison were too small to kill them, i.e., the concentrations were below 0.01% by volume - meaning that less than 500 g of Zyklon B was used. 

The alleged entering of the gas chambers without safety measures, the hard work performed in them - sometimes done bare-chested and while eating and smoking - and the simultaneous claim that great quantities of poison gas were used, combine to prove these witnesses guilty of making false statements. 

The quantity of poison gas cylinders in a facility should be kept to a minimum. 

But the dangers of this type of poison gas are not merely restricted to persons in the same house in which fumigation is taking place. Large quantities of gas may penetrate the open air and endanger the entire neighborhood, as shown by an accident in the fall of 1995 in a Croatian holiday resort 18... 

Field tests were made with a 1.5 pound charge of a permissible explosive that produced, in the Bichel gauge, the maximum aUowable quantity of poisonous gases (158 liters per 1.5 pounds) these tests indicated that in a narrow entry, without artificial ventilation, 1800 ppm of carbon monoxide (the only poisonous gas present) was produced, as shown by analysis of an air sample taken 2 minutes after the shot. Another sample of the air taken 2 minutes later contained 800 ppm of carbon monoxide. Under no conditions should miners or shot firers return to the place until the poisonous gases have been removed by adequate ventilation. 

The sulfur rings are extracted from the aqueous reaction mixture by toluene from which Se as the major product (69 mol%) crystallizes as orange crystals on cooling to -20 °C. However, the evolution of large quantities of poisonous SO2 gas makes this preparation somewhat unpleasant. 

Caution. Care should be exercised during the reactivation step if the alloy was poisoned in the hydrided state, as the hydride can decompose rapidly once the surface becomes reactivated, thus liberating large quantities of hydrogen gas in a short time even though the decomposition is endothermic. 

Chemistry as a necessity of modem warfare was applied mainly in two ways. One way was to use toxic gases for chemical warfare. Although not important in the quantities produced, poison gas had devastating effects when brought into action. Chemical gases were made from chlorine, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and many other intermediates that had also been used for producing dyes. They could be easily mass produced by firms like Bayer and Hoechst. These had produced dilorine and other intermediates for synthetic dyes and could quickly switch to manufacture poison-... 

The DOT definition of poison gas is a material that is a gas at 68°F or less at 14.7 psi and is so toxic to humans as to pose a hazard to health during transportation, or in the absence of adequate data on human toxicity, is presumed to be toxic to humans because when tested on laboratory animals it has an LC50 value of not more than 5000 ml/m. These materials are considered so toxic that, when transported, the vehicle must be placarded regardless of the quantity. The potential exists for 2.3 materials to affect large populations by creating toxic gas clouds, hi order to understand the... 

Bromine ttifluoride is commercially available at a minimum purity of 98% (108). Free Br2 is maintained at less than 2%. Other minor impurities are HF and BrF. Free Br2 content estimates are based on color, with material containing less than 0.5% Br2 having a straw color, and ca 2% Br2 an amber-red color. Fluoride content can be obtained by controlled hydrolysis of a sample and standard analysis for fluorine content. Bromine ttifluoride is too high boiling and reactive for gas chromatographic analysis. It is shipped as a Hquid in steel cylinders in quantities of 91 kg or less. The cylinders are fitted with either a valve or plug to faciUtate insertion of a dip tube. Bromine ttifluoride is classified as an oxidizer and poison by DOT. 

Shipment and Storage. Liquid sulfur dioxide is commonly shipped in North America using 55- and 90-t tank cars, 20-ton tank tmcks, 1-ton cylinders, and 150-lb cylinders. Cylinders made of specified steel are affixed with the green label for nonflammable gases. The DOT classification is Poison Gas, Inhalation Ha2ard. Purchasers of tank-car quantities are required to have adequate storage faciUties for prompt transfer. 

The methanation reaction is currently used to remove the last traces (<1%) of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from hydrogen to prevent poisoning of catalysts employed for subsequent hydrogenation reactions. Processes for conversion of synthesis gas containing large quantities of carbon monoxide (up to 25%) into synthetic natural gas have been investigated to serve plants based on coal-suppHed synthesis gas. 

Remaining trace quantities of CO (which would poison the iron catalyst during ammonia synthesis) are converted back to CH4 by passing the damp gas from the scmbbers over a Ni methanation catalyst at 325° CO -t- 3H2, CRt -t- H2O. This reaction is the reverse of that occurring in the primary steam reformer. The synthesis gas now emerging has the approximate composition H2 74.3%, N2 24.7%, CH4 0.8%, Ar 0.3%, CO 1 -2ppm. It is compressed in three stages from 25 atm to 200 atm and then passed over a promoted iron catalyst at 380-450°C ... 

If the activity of the catalyst is slowly modified by chemisorption of materials that are not easily removed, the deactivation process is termed poisoning. It is usually caused by preferential adsorption of small quantities of impurities (poisons) present in the feedstream. Adsorption of extremely small amounts of the poison (a small fraction of a monolayer) is often sufficient to cause very large losses in catalytic activity. The bonds linking the catalyst and poison are often abnormally strong and highly specific. Consequently, the process is often irreversible. If the process is reversible, a change in the temperature or the composition of the gas to which it is exposed may be sufficient to restore catalyst... 

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