Smoke Screens and Gas Masks: Chemistry Goes to War
CHEMISTRY AT WAR During World War I 1914 1918 German commanders wanted to capture a French fortress at Verdun on France's eastern border On February 21 1916 German artillery opened fire In just under five hours 800 big guns fired around one million shells at French positions The French defended the fort for nine more months before the Germans withdrew Despite its failure the bombardment was one of the biggest ever fired and it showed the importance of chemistry in warfare Chemists had not only developed explosives for the shells They had also figured out ways to make millions of shells quickly and relatively safely British workers make shells in a factory during World War
WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT A soldier fires a replica of a World War I Chemistry is the science of the substances flamethrower The that make up all matter Chemists examine weapon uses high how substances react to forces They also pressure to shoot a jet of liquid fuel that combine substances to make new ones is set on fire The first flamethrowers were Chemistry has shaped weapons since ancient used in the seventh century times Ancient peoples learned how to make metal blades and points for weapons Next came the discovery of gunpowder in ancient China When gunpowder reached Europe in the thirteenth century it transformed warfare Gunpowder allowed for the development of weapons such as cannons pistols and muskets In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries chemists developed new explosives and ammunition They came up with weapons such as poison gas and incendiary weapons to cause fires Chemists also created new materials to protect soldiers in battle In the twenty first century chemistry remains at the heart warfare of
SWORDS AND BLADES One of the first uses of chemistry in warfare was to make bladed weapons The process depended on being able to heat and shape metals Fhe earliest weapons were I made from stone or flint In the fourth millennium BCE people learned to forge bronze They used the new metal to make sharper blades for weapons The stronger bronze blades and arrowheads gave armies an advantage Ancient peoples such as Egyptians supplied their armies with bronze swords and axes as well as spears and arrows Bronze was quite soft however Over time bronze blades bent or grew dull In about 1300 BCE people learned to achieve very high temperatures in furnaces That allowed them to extract iron from iron ore Early chemists learned to melt metals at very high temperatures Liquid metals could be poured molds into
A US Marine fits a bayonet to his weapon Steel bayonets are still used for hand to hand fighting SCIENCE ooooo FILE This developmment marked the start of the Iron Age People soon began to use iron to make weapons IRON AND STEEL Iron made bronze obsolete Bronze weapons could not pierce iron armor In turn iron was replaced by steel by around the 300s BCE Steel was even stronger and lighter than iron It also kept its sharp edge for longer FILE 000000 Metallurgy and Metals Bronze is an alloy a metal made by mixing two or more metals Bronze is made by mixing copper with tin Metallurgy is the science of combining metals to make alloys Early chemists learned to use heat to create new metals The new alloys were stronger lighter and easier to make into weapons than pure metals had been In the modern era infantry soldiers still attach steel bayonets to their rifles Bayonets are used as stabbing weapons in close combat connonco00000000000
