There are five major types of chemical agents Nerve, Blood, Blister, Choking, and riot control/other. They are lumped into these categories because of what they affect. A nerve agent attacks your central nervous system. A blood agent attacks your blood and so on.
Nerve agents are the most powerful and fastest-acting chemical agent. It can affect you in as little as six seconds. It can enter through your lungs or through the pores of your skin. Nerve agent kills you by contracting your muscles and not allowing them to relax. It starts with twitching in the smaller muscles and works to larger muscles including the heart and lung muscles.
Blood agent blocks oxygen from being transferred in your blood. The oxygen that is vital for your muscles and your brain to function is cut off. It is fast acting but it dissipates from the atmosphere very rapidly. This makes it a good weapon to use in a heavily populated area that the enemy plans to occupy in the future.
Blister agent causes huge blisters all over the body wherever it comes in contact with the skin. This agent primarily attacks the skin but it can also be inhaled and cause blisters in the esophagus. There are two main blister agents. One blister agent burns immediately on contact and the other has no immediate effect for about 30 minutes.
Choking agents like phosgene because the lungs to fill up with fluid and the victim chokes to death on their own mucus.
Riot control agents are things like teargas. There is an agent called adamsite which is a vomiting agent. When you breathe it in it triggers the gag reflex and people begin to vomit uncontrollably.
The Russian army also has experimented with things called bio-regulator agents. These are chemical compounds that trigger a natural response in your body like sleep. The United States classifies these as biological weapons but the Russians say their chemical. The former Soviet Union also used mycotoxins against the Afghan people during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 80s. I haven’t even scratched the surface on chemical weapons so if you want to know more about all of this sign up for my class today!
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