U
Umbrellaterm
All parents are evil incarnate
- Oct 22, 2020
- 308
Iam so proud of myself for finding this AAA answer to my own question.
This settles my worries of HCN for sure, even if it's an anonymous source it's very logical.
"You ever heard of gas chambers used as method of execution in the US? Guess what chemical they use? Victims gag, struggle, foam at the mouth, eyes roll back etc. Zyklon-B is a pesticide made from Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) which is also known as prussic acid. The poison is very volatile and deadly, inhaling it will kill you within seconds except when it's at the very low concentration employed by the Nazi's in which case it is reported as taking much longer.
According to Dr Sven Anders (University Clinic of Hamburg-Eppendorf) the gas causes a stinging in the chest, then spasmodic pain (like epilepsy) and finally attacks the brain and heart causing death. Due to the weak and inconsistent concentration in the gas chambers this could have lasted up to half an hour for the victims. Half an hour of agonising pain whilst those people around you clawed, tore and trampled each other in their fear, pain and horror.
Dr Anders has also suggested that the gas would have been at different concentrations in different places in the chamber and that it rises, meaning that taller people would have suffered first with shorter people watching them succumb before also being afflicted.
Carbon monoxide poisoning wasn't a great deal better. The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning have been described as 'flu-like' (by survivors) with victims suffering shortness of breath, dizziness and confusion, vomiting and nausea, but it nonetheless lethal.
It was considered by the Nazi's to be an inefficient form of execution (Hence the adoption of Zyklon-B) as it took a lot longer for the victims to die, even with pure carbon monoxide. Unfortunately for the victims the carbon monoxide was often that emitted by internal combustion engines.
According to Dr. Thomas Greiner, (Dept. of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Iowa State University) Higher concentrations of carbon monoxide will kill in about five minutes, but once again the gas would be diluted within the chamber and react with different physiologies differently bringing about differences in mortality onset.
So to answer your question, Zyklon B was very painful, Carbon Monoxide may have been less painful but was equally as awful and for those victims caught within these chambers, knowing that they were going to die and watching those around them descend into mindless savagery due to terror, it was likely as close to any version of hell as you can imagine."
This settles my worries of HCN for sure, even if it's an anonymous source it's very logical.
"You ever heard of gas chambers used as method of execution in the US? Guess what chemical they use? Victims gag, struggle, foam at the mouth, eyes roll back etc. Zyklon-B is a pesticide made from Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) which is also known as prussic acid. The poison is very volatile and deadly, inhaling it will kill you within seconds except when it's at the very low concentration employed by the Nazi's in which case it is reported as taking much longer.
According to Dr Sven Anders (University Clinic of Hamburg-Eppendorf) the gas causes a stinging in the chest, then spasmodic pain (like epilepsy) and finally attacks the brain and heart causing death. Due to the weak and inconsistent concentration in the gas chambers this could have lasted up to half an hour for the victims. Half an hour of agonising pain whilst those people around you clawed, tore and trampled each other in their fear, pain and horror.
Dr Anders has also suggested that the gas would have been at different concentrations in different places in the chamber and that it rises, meaning that taller people would have suffered first with shorter people watching them succumb before also being afflicted.
Carbon monoxide poisoning wasn't a great deal better. The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning have been described as 'flu-like' (by survivors) with victims suffering shortness of breath, dizziness and confusion, vomiting and nausea, but it nonetheless lethal.
It was considered by the Nazi's to be an inefficient form of execution (Hence the adoption of Zyklon-B) as it took a lot longer for the victims to die, even with pure carbon monoxide. Unfortunately for the victims the carbon monoxide was often that emitted by internal combustion engines.
According to Dr. Thomas Greiner, (Dept. of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Iowa State University) Higher concentrations of carbon monoxide will kill in about five minutes, but once again the gas would be diluted within the chamber and react with different physiologies differently bringing about differences in mortality onset.
So to answer your question, Zyklon B was very painful, Carbon Monoxide may have been less painful but was equally as awful and for those victims caught within these chambers, knowing that they were going to die and watching those around them descend into mindless savagery due to terror, it was likely as close to any version of hell as you can imagine."
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