Phosphorus

White Phosphorus Explosion

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• published: 07 Feb 2015
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White Phosphorus explosions are used by spec ops at night to provide smoke screens. It was used in Vietnam as well as other wars throughout history. Subscribe for new videos: http://goo.gl/SaufF4 Watch the box jellyfish video here: http://goo.gl/5VhCkT Watch the scorpion video here: http://goo.gl/MYiSLm It causes your skin to melt away and can literally make your jawbone disintegrate. It's white phosphorus, and it's still being used all over the world. Today's topic was requested by disturbedfan82991, rg apostol, Ignacio Garcia, Romano Mcstoleyabike, and Genghis Khan. If you have any other topics you'd like to learn about, be sure to subscribe and write your suggestions in the comments section below. What is it? White Phosphorus (WP), nicknamed "Willie Pete," is an incendiary warfare weapon with powerful burning effects used to ignite combustible items and create smoke screens for military use. Human exposure to white phosphorus can be extremely lethal as it causes deep, painful burns that reach all the way down to the bone. Where is it located? White Phosphorus was first used by the British Army in 1916 during World War I, where they used it in grenades as a chemical warfare weapon. They've since been used in several wars throughout history, including World War II, the Korean & Vietnam Wars, and by the Russians during the Chechen wars in Chechnya. These days, it's still being used extensively by the U.S. military in wars and conflicts throughout the Middle East in tanks, artillery shells, and ammo rounds. Soldiers combine them with night vision gear to hide themselves in battle. How will it kill you? White Phosphorus causes second and third degree burns by sticking to your skin and continuing to burn unless it's deprived of oxygen or until it's completely consumed, sometimes completely burning through your flesh until your bones are exposed. The burns also cause phosphorus to be absorbed into your skin, causing kidney, liver, and heart damage as well as multiple organ failure. In addition, the chemical leads to what's known as phossy jaw--or osteonecrosis of the jaw--a painful, debilitating condition in which wounds in the mouth are slow to heal, ultimately resulting in a putrid rotting of the lower jaw bone. How to survive: Exposure to White Phosphorus requires the immediate application of saline-soaked and/or water-soaked pads to the affected area until the victim can get to a hospital in order to keep the phosphorus from reigniting. There, the professional medical staff will continue to irrigate the phosphorus to prevent it form drying and igniting due to air exposure. They'll at the same time attempt to remove the white phosphorus particles while providing supportive care to the victim's wounds. An application of copper sulfate may also be used as an in vitro neutralizer of the white phosphorus as it's traditionally been used to treat burns. Now what do you think is worse and why? Being stung by a box jellyfish? Or being stung by a scorpion?