What is mustard gas?
Q: What is mustard gas?
A: Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound which has been used as a chemical weapon.
Q: When was it first used in warfare?
A: It was first used in World War I by the German Army against British and Canadian soldiers near Ypres, Belgium, in 1917.
Q: What does it look like at room temperature?
A: Most sulfur mustards are squishy liquids with no color and no smell when they are at room temperature. When used in warfare, they have a color yellowish to brown. Some of them smell like culinary mustard (the type used for food), horseradish or garlic.
Q: Who discovered sulfur mustard?
A: Sulfur mustard (in its form mustard gas) was synthesized by Frederick Guthrie in 1860. It may have been discovered as early as the 1820s, by M.Depretz.
Q: How did it get its name?
A: They got their name from the smell, but are completely unrelated to culinary mustard.
Q: When were its use during warfare prohibited?
A: Its use during warfare was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. This protocol outlawed the use of poison gas (which was widely used in the First World War). An additional agreement, the Chemical Weapons Convention, was ratified in 1993 which also outlaws the production and stockpiling of such agents.
Q:What is its chemical formula ?
A:Sulfur mustard is the organic compound with formula (ClCH2CH2)2S
