Smoke Screens and Gas Masks: Chemistry Goes to War
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
FIRE AS A WEAPON Since prehistoric times fire has been an important weapon Early chemists learned to direct fire against targets ncient armies used fire as a destructive Aweapon Many early battles were sieges In a siege an army surrounded a walled city to force it to surrender Fire could help burn wooden city walls and create gaps for soldiers to enter the city Burning missiles were also thrown into besieged towns The missiles set fire to buildings That terrified people inside the towns Wooden defenses and buildings burned easily Medieval buildings stood close together so fires quickly spread
FIRE AND WATER The first incendiary weapons were burning bundles of hay or grass They were fired with catapults and bows At sea incendiary weapons were used to set fire to enemy warships Ships would sink or be put out of action Sailors filled old ships with fuel They set the fuel on fire and pushed the fire ships toward enemy ships French rafts full of burning materials float toward ships of the British navy in 1759 France and Britain were fighting over control of the French colony in Canada Early incendiary weapons could easily be put out with water and they could not be used in the rain They were also difficult and dangerous to move and use 9
