Napalm In Vietnam War

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Hot Sticky Death Napalm, one of the most morally terrifying weapons used in the mid to late 1900’s. This weapon was most famous in the Vietnam War for inflicting fatal wounds and even deformities. In world war two, napalm were mostly used in tanks and incendiary bombs to destroy enemy ground troops. The word ‘napalm’ is derived from the two words ‘naphthene’ and ‘palmitate’. It was invented in a top-secret 1942 war research collaboration between Harvard University and the U.S. government, used to devastating effect in Europe and the Pacific in World War II most notably to incinerate 64 of Japan’s largest cities and in most major military conflicts after 1945, notably in Korea and Vietnam. The effects Napalm had were environmentally hazardous,…show more content…
The US was not used of fighting in humid jungles and they did not expect the Vietcong to be much of a fight, but that changed quickly when U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded by November 1967 (Vietnam War History). The Americans, started constructing plans to win the war by destroying thousands of acres of land so the Vietcong soldiers had nowhere to hide. This included massive amount of explosives and chemicals to be dumped in the jungles of Vietnam. Being one of the more famous weapons to be used was Napalm, next with Agent Orange. The Americans used Napalm to destroy enemy resources and camps, it was one of the bombs in Operation ranch…show more content…
Mixing the aluminum soap powder with gasoline produced a brownish sticky syrup that burned more slowly than raw gasoline, and hence was much more effective at igniting a target. Compared to previous incendiary weapons, napalm spread further, stuck to the target, burned longer, and was safer to its dispenser because it was dropped and detonated far below the airplane. It was also cheap to manufacture. Modern day napalm uses no Napalm (naphthalene or palmitate) -- instead using a mixture of polystyrene, gasoline and benzene. After the Korean War a safer but equally effective napalm compound was developed. This new formulation is known as "napalm-B", super-napalm, or NP2, and it uses no napalm! Instead, polystyrene and benzene are used as a solvent to solidify the gasoline. This modern napalm is a mixture of benzene (21%), gasoline (33%), and polystyrene (46%). Benzene is a normal component of gasoline (about 2%), while the gasoline used in napalm is the same leaded or unleaded gas that is used in

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