Napalm

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

A simulated Napalm explosion during a 2003 air show. The bomb would contain a mix of napalm-B and gasoline.

Napalm is any of a number of flammable liquids used in warfare, often jellied gasoline. Napalm is actually the thickener in such liquids, which when mixed with gasoline makes a sticky incendiary gel. Developed by the U.S. in World War II by a team of Harvard chemists led by Louis Fieser, its name is a portmanteau of its original ingredients, coprecipitated aluminum salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the flammable substance to cause it to gel.^[1]

One of the major problems of early incendiary fluids (such as those used in flamethrowers) was that it splashed and drained too easily. The U.S. found that a gasoline gel increased both the range and effectiveness of flamethrowers, but was difficult to manufacture because it used natural rubber, which was in high demand and expensive. Napalm provided a far cheaper alternative, solving the issues involved with rubber-based incendiaries.^[1]

Modern napalm is composed primarily of benzene and polystyrene, and is known as napalm-B.^[1]

Napalm was used in flamethrowers and bombs by the U.S. and Allied forces, to increase effectiveness of flammable liquids. The substance is formulated to burn at a specific rate and adhere to materials. Napalm is mixed with gasoline in various proportions to achieve this. Another useful (and dangerous) effect, primarily involving its use in bombs, was that napalm "rapidly deoxygenates the available air" as well as creating large amounts of carbon monoxide causing suffocation. Napalm bombs were also used in the Vietnam War to clear landing zones for helicopters.^[1]

Though napalm was a 20th century invention, it is part of a long history of incendiary materials in warfare. However, it was primarily liquids that were used (see Greek fire). An infantry-based flammable liquid fuel weapon, the flamethrower, was introduced in World War I by the Germans, variations of which were soon developed by other sides.^[1]

[edit] Usage in warfare

Riverboat of the U.S. Brownwater Navy deploying an ignited napalm mixture from riverboat mounted flamethrower in Vietnam

On July 17, 1944, napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France.^[2] Napalm bombs were first used in the Pacific Theatre during the Battle of Tinian. In World War II, Allied Forces bombed cities in Japan with napalm, and used it in bombs and flamethrowers in Germany and the Japanese-held islands. It was used by the Greek army against communist guerrilla fighters during the Greek Civil War, by United Nations forces in Korea, by Mexico in the late 1960s against guerrilla fighters in Guerrero and by the United States during the Vietnam War.

Napalm has been used recently in wartime by or against: Iran (1980–88), Israel (1967, 1982), Nigeria (1969), Brazil (1972), Egypt (1973), Cyprus (1974), Argentina (1982), Iraq (1980–88, 1991), Serbia (1994), Turkey (1963, 1974, 1997), Angola, United States.

In some cases, napalm incapacitates and kills its victims very quickly. Those who do survive suffer 3rd degree burns, damaging the vascular dermis, which does not have pain receptors. However, victims who suffer 2nd degree burns from splashed napalm will be in significant amounts of pain.^[1]

June 8, 1972: Kim Phúc, center, running down a road near Trang Bang after an Army of the Republic of Vietnam 'napalm' bomb attack. (Nick Ut / ©Associated Press)

"Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine," said Kim Phuc, a napalm bombing survivor known from a famous Vietnam War photograph. "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius."^[3]

Phuc sustained third-degree burns to half her body and was not expected to live. But thanks to assistance from South Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut, and after surviving a 14-month hospital stay and 17 operations, she became an outspoken peace activist.

International law does not prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets,^[3] but use against civilian populations was banned by a United Nations convention in 1980.^[4] The United States did not sign the agreement, but destroyed its Napalm-based incendiary bombs in 2001.^[5]

An Ecuadorian air force IAI Kfir aircraft drops napalm on a target range during the joint US and Ecuadorian Exercise BLUE HORIZON.

Reports by the Sydney Morning Herald suggested the usage of napalm in the Iraq War by US forces.^[6] This was denied by the U.S. DOD. In August 2003, the San Diego Union Tribune alleged that U.S. Marine pilots and their commanders confirmed the use of Mark 77 firebombs on Iraqi Republican Guards during the initial stages of combat. The only Mk 77 bomb remaining in service at this time was the Mk 77 Mod 5, which does not use actual napalm (e.g. napalm-B), but a different incendiary mixture. The last U.S. bomb to use actual napalm was the Mark 77 Mod 4, the last of which were destroyed in March 2001.^[7]

"We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. "Unfortunately there were people there ... you could see them in the cockpit video. They were Iraqi soldiers. It's no great way to die. (...) The generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect."^[8]

These bombs did not actually contain napalm. The napalm-B (super napalm) used in Vietnam was gasoline based. The Mk-77 firebombs used in the Gulf were kerosene based. It is, however, a napalm-like liquid in its effect.^[1]

Recipes for napalm type substances are commonly circulated on the Internet. These typically purport to produce a thickened gasoline-based substance using soap or polystyrene as a thickening agent (very similar to the napalm of the Vietnam War). The methods described for producing such a substance are often dangerous, as is its use (due to flammability, adhesiveness, and poisonous fumes from burning polystyrene). It is also illegal for civilians to produce incendiary weapons in most countries.

[edit] Composition

Napalm bombs explode after being dropped from a Republic of Korea Air Force F-4E Phantom II aircraft during a live-fire exercise.

Napalm is usually a mixture of gasoline with suitable thickening agents. The earliest thickeners were soaps, aluminum, and magnesium palmitates and stearates. According to amount of added thickener, the resulting viscosity may range between syrupy liquid and thick rubbery gel. The content of long hydrocarbon chains makes the material highly hydrophobic (resistant to wetting with water), making it more difficult to extinguish. Thickened fuel also rebounds better from surfaces, making it more useful for operations in urban terrain.

There are two types of napalm: oil-based with aluminum soap thickener, and oil-based with polymeric thickener ("napalm-B").

The United States military uses three kinds of thickeners: M1, M2, and M4.

• The M1 Thickener (Mil-t-589a), chemically a mixture of 25% wt. aluminum naphtenate, 25% aluminum oleate, and 50% aluminum laurate, (or, according to other sources, aluminum stearate soap) is a highly hygroscopic coarse tan-colored powder. As the water content impairs the quality of napalm, thickener from partially used open containers should not be used later. It is not maintained in the US Army inventory any more as it was replaced with M4.
• The M2 Thickener (Mil-t-0903025b) is a whitish powder similar to M1, with added devolatilized silica and anti-caking agent.
• The M4 Thickener (Mil-t-50009a), hydroxyl aluminum bis(2-ethylhexanoate) with anti-caking agent, is a fine white powder. It is less hygroscopic than M1 and opened containers can be resealed and used within one day. About half the amount of M4 is needed for the same effect as of M1.

A later variant, napalm-B, also called "super napalm", is a mixture of low-octane gasoline with benzene and polystyrene. It was used in the Vietnam War. Unlike conventional napalm, which burns for only 15–30 seconds, napalm B burns for up to 10 minutes with fewer fireballs, sticks better to surfaces, and offers improved destruction effects. It is not as easy to ignite, which reduces the number of accidents caused by soldiers smoking. When it burns, it develops a characteristic smell.

Starting in the early 1990s, various websites including The Anarchist Cookbook advertised recipes for homemade napalm. These recipes were predominantly equal parts gasoline and styrofoam. This mixture closely resembles that of napalm-B, but lacks a percentage of benzene.

Napalm reaches burning temperatures of approximately 1200 °C. Other additives can be added, eg. powdered aluminum or magnesium, or white phosphorus.

In the early 1950s, Norway developed its own napalm, based on fatty acids in whale oil. The reason for this development was that the American-produced thickening agent performed rather poorly in the cold Norwegian climate. The product was known as Northick II.^[9]

[edit] Napalm in popular culture

Napalm itself became well-known by the American public after its use in the Vietnam war. Since then, it has been mentioned in the media and arts multiple times.

• In the film Fight Club, the screenwriters were originally going to have Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) recite a working recipe for napalm. However, after questions of safety were brought to the attention of the producers, they substituted his lines with a fake recipe claiming it to be equal parts of gasoline and orange juice concentrate. Contrary to popular belief, the original recipes in the book were also modified by its publisher. The book's altered recipes claim that, in addition to orange juice, mixing equal parts gasoline and diet cola, or thickening gasoline with cat litter, will work.

• In the film Apocalypse Now, Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall) famously declares "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... It smells like... victory."

• Calvin's favorite comic book superhero (and a character he wants to become) is Captain Napalm. To add an aspect of irony (especially when considered with the usage of napalm in Apocalypse Now), the tagline for Captain Napalm is "Defender of the American Way".

• In the film An Officer and a Gentleman, Sgt. Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.) leads a quick-step march with a cadence call that has the chorus, "And napalm sticks to kids!"