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US to get rid of chemical weapons stockpile

9/5/2016

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Wow, school is starting!  Learning new student names, seating charts, distributing books, fire drills, beginning of the year school assemblies – it’s a busy time!
 
The book
Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
The early labs include the topics of
Significant Figures, Density (3 labs), the Separation of a Mixture (including coverage of Percent Composition), and Liquid Chromatography.  These are safe labs that cover essential information, giving you time to emphasize Lab Safety and get Lab Safety Contracts signed.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.  
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you --
Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
Here’s a list of past blog posts that may be useful as you start the new school year.  They are grouped in various topic “themes”:
 

Classroom:
07/06/2014              Decorating Your Classroom
07/27/2014              Classroom Ideas –Daily
                                   Announcements and Teacher
                                      Websites
07/20/2014              Classroom Grading Programs


Beginning Activities:
08/10/2014              Lab – Reaction in a Bag
07/13/2014              Chemistry Laboratory Safety
06/22/2014              Scientist Research



Course Organization:
08/27/2015             Outlines for Student Notes
10/15/2014             Unit Objectives
 
“The U.S. Army plans to start operating a $4.5 billion plant next week that will destroy the nation's largest remaining stockpile of mustard agent, complying with an international treaty that bans chemical weapons, officials said Wednesday[, 8/31/16].”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/apnewsbreak-us-set-destroy-big-chemical-weapon-stockpile-200315426.html 
“The Army stores an additional 523 tons of mustard and deadly nerve agents at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. Blue Grass is expected to start destroying its weapons next year, finishing in 2023.”
 
“A 1925 treaty barred the use of chemical weapons after debilitating gas attacks in World War I, and the 1997
Chemical Weapons Convention called for eradicating them. 
But international inspectors say Syria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group used them in 2014 and 2015. The United Nations Security Council met in closed session on Tuesday to consider whether to sanction Syria.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/destroy-2600-tons-mustard-gas-stockpile-160901080745238.html
 
“Mustard gas, or sulfur mustard (Cl-CH2CH2)2S, is a chemical agent that causes severe burning of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It can be absorbed into the body through inhalation, ingestion or by coming into contact with the skin or eyes.

First used during World War I, the gas is effective at incapacitating its victims en masse. Sulfur mustard is generally colorless in its gaseous state, though it may have a faint yellow or green tint. It's most easily recognized by its trademark 'mustardy' odor, though some compare its smell to that of garlic, horseradish or sulfur.”

http://www.livescience.com/39248-what-is-mustard-gas.html
 
This page shows the structural diagram and a chemical model for Bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide (in the right margin):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_mustard
 
 
This CNN report from 3/17/15 contains a brief 3 minute video segment with a useful overview and a visual of the organic molecule:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/us/chemical-weapons-pueblo-debot/
The article also lists nine things to know about the chemical weapons and a brief history.
 

For your information, there is an Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons:

https://www.opcw.org/our-work/demilitarisation/destruction-of-chemical-weapons/
 
“The first international agreement limiting the use of chemical weapons dates back to 1675, when France and Germany came to an agreement, signed in Strasbourg, prohibiting the use of poison bullets.”

Here is a History of the use and banning of chemical weapons:
https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/genesis-and-historical-development/
 
There are four main United States facilities to destroy chemical weapons.  “Under contract to destroy more than 90 percent of the weapons in the U.S. chemical stockpile, AECOM completed chemical demilitarization operations in Anniston, AL; Pine Bluff, AR; Tooele, UT; and Umatilla, OR.
AECOM is currently performing decontamination and decommissioning activities at Umatilla, Anniston and Tooele. The Pine Bluff project has been completed. We are also on the team that manages systemization, pilot testing and operations at neutralization-based chemical demilitarization plants in Pueblo, CO, and Blue Grass, KY.”

http://www.aecom.com/projects/chemical-weapons-disposal-facilities-general-overview/
 
Chemical weapon disposal depends on how the weapon was designed:
“There's storage in ton containers, where a bulk agent is stored in a metal container with a spigot on it, and then there's munition-filled chemical weapons. These were not meant to be disposed; it was kind of a design oversight, if you will. [With
America's chemical weapon carrying M55 rockets] no one thought about breaking them open, draining the chemical agents, and safely disposing them. Everyone thought you were going to shoot them. That's how you get rid of them.
There are two major ways to dispose of chemical weapons: incineration and neutralization.
Incineration uses a tremendous amount of heat to turn the toxic chemical into mostly ash, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. Neutralization breaks the chemical agent down using water and a caustic compound, like sodium hyrdoxide. Both ways generate a waste product: incineration generates ash, and neutralization leaves a large amount of liquid waste that must be stored or further processed.”
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-09/fyi-chemical-weapons-and-disposal
 
This page contains flow charts to help illustrate various disposal methods of chemical weapons:
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/demil/methods.htm
   
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.


Good luck with the 2016-17 school year!
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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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