What is the yellow gas that caused the Aqaba port disaster in Jordan?

Arab Weather - Yellow gas is known as chlorine gas, which is a poisonous and deadly gas if it is inhaled in certain concentrations. Promotes explosion of other materials.

Chlorine gas uses

Despite the toxicity of this gas, man has been able to adapt it, and make it useful and has multiple and varied uses, including:

1. It is mainly used for disinfection of drinking water; As well as disinfecting swimming pool water, where chlorine is effective in eliminating many types of bacteria.
2. It is used in industrial and plastic products as it was used as a bleaching agent during the manufacture of fabrics and paper.
3. It is used in the manufacture of pesticides, paints, polymers, rubber and disinfectants.
4. It was used during the world wars as a deadly suffocating weapon.
5. Chlorine gas is an intermediate element for the preparation of many chemical products used in industries such as chlorate and chloroform; As well as carbon tetrachloride gas.

Risks of exposure to chlorine gas

Chlorine gas seriously affects the breathing of living organisms; It is able to react with the water of the lungs to form toxic hydrochloric acid, which destroys the cells and tissues of the lungs, causing death.

When gas is inhaled, symptoms of irritation appear on the mucous membranes quickly, despite the presence of delayed effects on the lungs, and the severity of the effects upon exposure depends on the concentration and duration of exposure, and the main manifestations include the following:

• Cough with the production of sputum (sputum or sputum) in large quantities
• Feeling of suffocation and shortness of breath
• runny nose
• sound roughness
• Nausea and vomiting
• headache
• Pulmonary infections and pulmonary edema of non-cardiogenic origin, which may be delayed for up to 12-14 hours
• Oxygen deficiency
• heart stop

Effects on the eyes:

• Irritation and burning in the eyes
• blurred vision
• Increased secretion of tears and convulsions of the eyelids
• Corneal burns

Effects on the skin:

Skin injury occurs after exposure to condensed gas or from getting too close to the liquefied gas release site under pressure, and freezing of the fingers can occur if the compressed gas is touched.

Effect of gas leakage on the environment:

Chlorine gas decomposes in water, and it may cause harm to aquatic organisms if it is in high concentrations, but if a limited amount of it leaks into the sea, the effect is limited on the living things in the place of the leak.

Its decomposition and diffusion in the air is rapid, and can be easily disinfected from soil and surfaces, so it probably does not cause a long-term environmental problem at the site of the leak.

Procedures for dealing with the injured

• You should move away as much as possible from the source of the gas emission and move to a relatively clean medium of gas and rich in fresh air.
• Health workers treating chlorine-contaminated patients should wear clothing and carry personal protective equipment.
• All clothes of the patient must be removed to remove the chlorine stuck on his clothes from his lungs, and the patient's body should be washed with soap and water.
• Gently remove contact lenses if the patient wears them, wash the eyes with warm water and a saline solution, then examine the eyes with fluorescein dye and refer the patient to an ophthalmologist, and seek his advice, especially if contact occurs between the eye and chlorine liquid.
• In the hospital a high flow of oxygen is maintained to support the lungs.
• Monitor blood acidity and respiratory functions in general and work on treating respiratory symptoms using bronchodilators.

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