The Disappearing Spoon Chp. 5

The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 5

Summary:

It first starts off by talking about the history of how chemical warfare came to be from when it was just discovered, to the point it gave people an advantage in war. At first, Spartans tried using a stink bomb to make the Athenians flee the area, but ended up failing and let the Athenians win the war. After the Spartans tried using stink bombs, chemical warfare remained being much more inferior compared to the other types of weapons they had at the time. Later, the French are shown trying to use chemicals to their advantage by having it be able to incapacitate people; sadly, however, they weren’t successful at using it correctly during WW1 and had very little to no effect at all on the Germans. On the other hand, the Germans were able to make full use of chemicals, especially a bald and mustached man named Fritz Haber. Fritz became one of the most famous scientists in the world around the 19th century by figuring out how to convert nitrogen into a product that could replenish soil. If it weren’t for Fritz, millions of people would have starved to death and a large portion of the population would possibly not exist right now.

Besides the fact that the ammonia that Fritz created was used to make fertilizers, he disappointingly mainly cared about using it to create nitrogen explosives. Right after WW1 commenced, Fritz was hired to use his creations to be able to gain the advantage in the war; he happily accepted his position in the gas warfare division. However, his family was unhappy with what he was doing, except for his wife, Clara Immerwahr. Clara was the first woman to earn a Ph.D from a prestigious university and was a genius. Instead of doing something that would make everybody happy, she decided to help Fritz with his chemical work. When the Germans tried testing out their chemicals on the British, they encountered the same problem that the French had; the gas disappeared before the British noticed they were under attack. After fixing the problems that they had, Fritz was able to create a fully functional bromide projectile.

While trying to use his newly created gas shells in Russia, he noticed that they froze before they could have been used. He then later on created another gas shell, but instead of using bromide, he used chlorine. Using chlorine instead of bromide proved to be much more effective and made the bromide gas shell disappear as if it was just a mistake. Clara then came to her senses and tried to convince Fritz that what he wa doing was just awful and inhumane; sadly, her efforts were useless and she committed suicide soon after. The war has then ended with Germany being the losers and Fritz is humiliated with having to pay the Allies. In 1919, Fritz won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for being able to produce ammonia in an efficient way and is then charged as an international war criminal for helping the Germans create chemical weapons. He is then exile from Germany by the Nazis and dies travelling to England to find refuge; the Nazis then continue his legacy and create gas chambers to murder people in.

After mentioning all of this information, it then mentions a piece of information that I didn’t know before; it mentions that the most secluded battle during WW1 was in Colorado. After saying that, it then says how the “Big Berthas” that Germany had needed Molybdenum to create more of these war machines. Luckily for the Nazis, there was a mining facility that happened to be full of molybdenum that was owned by a man named Otis King. The Nazis weren’t just going to let this chance go away and they took over the mining facility by “tripping” King off of a cliff. It wasn’t until 1918 that the U.S. found out what the Nazis were doing and took back the mining facility and made King a millionaire. Later on the Nazis found a new metal that would help them called “Tungsten”; it helped the Nazis create armor-piercing missiles and several other devastating weapons. Portugal then profited greatly as a neutral country and worked with both sides during the war so that they would be able to gain as much money as they could. It was until 1944 did Portugal agree on helping the Allies work against the Axis powers. It finally then talks about two metals that were named after Greek Gods and how they are used nowadays and how they contributed or hurt others in the past wars.

Reflection:

Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these chapters and am glad to have read them for pretty much the same exact reasons as before. First of all, I liked reading the history as to how chemical weapons came to be and how people used it, whether it used for good or for bad. Second of all, I learned quite a few things that I had not known before, like how there was a battle in Colorado during WW2 for instance. Third of all, I enjoyed how there was somewhat a story on how a specific person was and what he or she did in their life during that time period. If I had to say something that I disliked, it would be that I am pretty much doing 7 essays and more work after this. Overall, I didn’t see anything that I disliked in particular

Guided Questions:

1. Pre-reading:How could elements be used in war?

Elements could be used in war in several ways: they can be used to create gases, armor, weapons, and several other ways.

2. What do you think the word harbinger means in the 2nd paragraph?

I think it means “That failure proved a message” or something like that.

3. Nitrogen is an element that could be used for good and bad. How can uranium be used to benefit people? To harm people? What about hydrogen?

Uranium can be used to create weapons of mass destruction and to power an entire city. Hydrogen on the other hand is used in rockets, it is environmentally friendly, and leaves almost none harmful emissions. However, it is also highly flammable, it doesn’t stop others from using more efficient and harmful fuels, and can be used to fuel weapons.

4. Why is it ironic that Haber won a Nobel Prize? Why did the price of tungsten jump dramatically during WWII?

It is ironic because Haber won the Nobel Prize for helping find a way to produce food much more efficiently and was also charged with being an international war criminal.

5. What continent holds the most tantalum and niobium? What country had brutal wars over them? Where do we get these elements from now? Why do we need them?

North America is the major tantalum producer and niobium’s largest producers are in every continent except for Australia. Congo had the most brutal wars over these resources and we need these resources so that we could create the electronical devices we have today.