That is all supposition. Although Ritter may have some knowledge, he has made it clear where his sympathy lies. Ritter is just trying to spin this so he doesn't look so bad...as if that were possible. There is nothing to indicate this round was of the "base-bleed" type. He sure as heck has not been allowed to examine it. If it had indeed been fired already, it would not have exploded before they could disarm it. We alreay know this one was not inert.

What is the probability that 1. The folks doing R&D didn't recover duds that were chemical rounds to determine why they failed. 2. That a terrorist just happened to dig this one up out of the ground in the middle of the desert when stockpiles of munitions are almost everywhere. if you suppose the testing folks could not find it with spotters and metal detectors..why would yopu suppose a wandering terrorist..probably coming from a wedding party would be able to?

Yep..either do it the hard way..volume of a cylinder= pi times the radius squared times the height

or the easy way..visualize two, 2-liter cola bottles stacked on top of each other. ..voila 4 liters in a standard shell

I've got a couple of questions. Did this Weapon of Mass Destruction explode? If so, how many hundreds of thousands of people died?

uh.. . Cam, (pi)×(dia) gives you circumference. . . .not area.

DAmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!! Maths > me. (edit) really, I can't believe I cocked that up. So, so, so embarrassed :o

Wait a minute - you're being dishonest with your maths - for instance using 10cm diameter (not your 15cm) inside gives a 50cm long "shell" (inner diameter again).

Taking account of the cone shape at the end and it would be longer still. Plus the explosive bit inside to bust the mother open on impact.

Having said that, I'm quite happy to concede that 4 litres is possible. Like I said before, I've never seen a 155mm shell before :D

Once again, luckily it was not poperly used and the soldiers neaby had the antidote on hand....The weapon's design is that it has to be launched as a projectile to mix the chemicals properly via rotation.

The point is not so much that the terrorists used a chemical weapon..but that it proves Saddam did not destroy this one.

Fintstone: "We alreay know this one was not inert."

I don't know that. Where do you get your information?

Of course once could inflict greate casualties with say, a bad batch of chili; Saddam's got nothing on my culinary (non)-experise.

While the exterior volume of a 155 millimeter shell exceeds two liters one needs to keep in mind that the shell is rather thick and there needs to be volume reserved for the detonator and bursting charge.

If memory serves me correctly a conventional shell has walls that are about an inch thick leaving an explosive volume of approximately one to two liters of high explosive. I imagine the walls are thinner in a CW shell but it has to reserve some room inside for the non chemical parts.

I am sure whoever is throwing out these quantities is basing their math on flawed assumptions like a shell is built like a coke can.

There are many forms of 155mm shells, what did you base your 2 liter assumption on?

A shell with one inch thick walls that is about a half a meter long. Don't forget to calculate for the taper.

Why does it have to be only 1/2 meter long, that's my question.

:confused: why would a shell, designed to carry toxic stuff, have 1" thick walls?

The idea is to disperse the load, not pyrolyze it.

Seriously though, how thick does it have to be? They do get shot out of a cannon after all, and it wouldn't do for them to burst at the "friendly" end.

hundreds of thoudsands did not die becuase of its delivery. As I understand it the Two chemicals need to mix in motion to become active. The fact that the two treated were not treated for blast injuries only exposure leads me to belive they detonated it to destroy it not knowing its contents. I guess they are not marked very well. I belive based on the stats from when Saddam used these in Iran they only kill 5-6K each. But they can launch 5 or 6 a minute.