jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU.UUCP (11/07/87)
There are some fire extinguishing foams that do their business by coupling with oxygen; they bind all of the oxygen in the room into an unusable form, and things can't burn. If you had a gas that could do this, then you could have everyone out cold in probably under three minutes. Think of the possibilities if said gas was odorless and colorless. Victims would know something was up only when things were already pretty bad... Maybe the asphyxiation time isn't fast enough to stop a bank heist, but it has definite crowd control possibilities. Jamie (jwz@spice.cs.cmu.edu)
davidsen@steinmetz.UUCP (11/12/87)
In article <319@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU (Jamie Zawinski) writes: | |There are some fire extinguishing foams that do their business by coupling |with oxygen; they bind all of the oxygen in the room into an unusable form, |and things can't burn. If you had a gas that could do this, then you could |have everyone out cold in probably under three minutes. Ummm, the original discussion was about rendering bad guys harmless (out cold, paralized, etc) before they could kill hostages. Once the crooks know that something is wrong they will be able to start shooting before they fall. This also has the problem of killing everyone. I like the idea someone mentioned about the "thunderflash" devices. I seem to recall some type of concussion grenade which would scramble someone for 5-10sec but not kill them. If I were a hostage I would rather have a broken eardrum than no oxygen, even if I didn't get shot. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me