David Sizemore wrote:
Dave Hinz wrote:
Gimme a break.. A bunch of fruitcakes in japan made sarin. It
ain't difficult, and it proved, in the end, to be a less serious
threat than the scaremongers would have you think.

Only because they dispersed it inefficiently.


ummm....hate to weigh in here so late, but this one caught my eye.
The Sarin in the Tokyo subway stations was distributed almost
perfectly. Large group of people, in a crowded station(if you've
never
been on a train/subway in Asia, the word "crowd" might mislead you
into
thinking that there was a scene something like Grand Central or Penn
Stations.

Not quite waht he was writing about. The target was close to
optimal NOT the distribution method. Like most nerve 'gasses'
sarin is a liquid at room temperature, though it has a relatively
high vapor pressure meaning that like many solvents used in
wood finishes it evaporates rapidly. (VX, by contrast has a very
low vapor pressure and is more like motor oil. The accepted
method for disposal is simply to pour it onto a concrete pad
esposed to the open air where UV from sunlight and oxidation
will destroy it over a period of several hours or a couple of
days.)

Sarin has the advantage of being easier to deploy than
most chemical warfare agents but also the property that
dispersion and diffusion in the open air will reduce it
an ineffective concentration relatively quickly in
tactical terms. That may be advantages should the
attacker wish to rapidly seize the area of deployment,
but a disadvantage if the object is to deny an area to
the enemy, a more typical approach to tactical use of
chemical weapons. VX on the other hand while being
much harder to deploy will settle onto the ground and
remain hazardous for at least several hours and up to
a couple of day depending on conditions.


Anyhow, in the Tokyo attack the sarin was in plastic bags that
were perforated by jabbing them with an umbrella and left
to evaporate. That is a very sub-optimal way to disperse it
even on a near optimal target population, though it did make
it easy for the perpetrators to get away without being ex-
posed themselves.

Some sort of sprayers might have been more effective so
if you see someone boarding the subway wearing a chemical
hazard suit and carrying an insecticide sprayer I suggest
you wait for the text train.

--

FF