Ars Technica took a look at some of the tear gas canisters, which are made by Combined Tactical Systems in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and found that the grenades and canisters are “largely filled with a fuel mixture that burns to disperse the tearing agent.” One grenade, the Model 5220 CN Smoke Grenade, has a starter mixture of potassium nitrate, silicon, and charcoal which is used to light CN smoke (a form of tear gas):
The CN smoke is 71 percent fuel, made up of potassium chlorate, magnesium carbonate, nitrocellulose, and… sucrose. The other 29 percent of the smoke is the tearing agent, chloroacetophenone, which has been around for nearly a century and causes severe irritation of the mucous membranes.
That’s a lot of stinky stuff and yep, the tear gas lists itself as having a “pungent odour”, which one protestor can attest to. He told ABC, “Your eyes tear up a lot so you can’t see, and you feel like you’re suffocating. You can actually breathe but you feel like you are suffocating so you try to run, but when you run you inhale more.” [Ars Technica]
Image Credit: The Atlantic
mark
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 9:23 AMis it true they also get really hot so they can’t be easily thrown back at the police/military?
Jester
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 10:23 AMI’ve seen footage of some canisters that spin around wildly making them difficult to pick up, especially since they’re spewing smoke so you can’t even see them properly. Doesn’t really answer your question but I thought it might be of interest :)
Pertuan
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 4:18 PMHaving used a training model of CS grenades (they emit smoke rather than CS), I can say that they get very warm. I wouldn’t use my hands directly on it but a sleeve is more than adequate.