Chemicals

The butterflies in Vietnam are special because they suffered through the Vietnam War. In the Vietnam War the chemicals which include Agent Orange, Agent White, CS, and Malathion are what decreased the population of Monarch Butterflies and destroyed plant and other animal life. When the Vietnam War occurred these chemicals were spread over the forest bottom to protect the army from enemies, but it turns out that they not only killed enemies but they also poisoned plants such as milkweed which is the Monarch Butterfly's food source. Agent Orange was the chemical that most affected the plants and animals. It covered 85% of the forest floor. Names like Agent Orange and Agent Blue are only code names. The scientific name for Agent Orange is a mixture of trichlorophenoxyacetic acid and dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The scientific name for Agent Blues is cacodylic acid, and Agent White is a mixture of dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and picloram which is a trichloropicolinic acid. Malathion is a chemical that affects and kills many insects. CS is also one of the deadly chemicals that were used as insecticides. The worst type of chemicals were the herbicides. During the war the military used at least 20 to 40 times more chemicals than is usually used in agriculture.

Agent Orange

Agent Orange was the most powerful chemical used in the Vietnam War. Agent Orange is a code name for mixture of 2,4,5-T (2,4,5.-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 545.4 Kg/m3) and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 485.1 kg/m3). It weighs 1 285 kg/m3. It is an herbicide. It is associated with the 2,4,5-T moiety is the impurity dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p- dioxin). During the Vietnam War many of the Vietnamese people hid in the plants. As a result, American soldiers sprayed the plants. The Agent Orange contained many mixtures of plant hormones which interfered with the plants' normal metabolism.

Agent Blue

Agent Blue was a code name for cacodylic acid (dimethyl arsenic acid; 371.5 km/m3). This chemical was made to destroy vegetation and prevent plants from retaining their moisture. Agent Blue was eleven percent used for monocotyledonous plants. The military mainly used the Agent Blue to destroy grains and the crops.

Agent White

Agent White was a code name for a mixture of an approximate ratio of 4:1 of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 239.7 kg/m3) and picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid; 64.7 kg/m3). Agent White was also a herbicide and it contained substances that helped the Agent Orange affect the plants' metabolism. Agent White was a chemical for forest destruction along with Agent Orange. There are not that many studies done on the chemical Agent White, which was made as a plant killing herbicide. It does almost everything that Agent Orange, but Agent Orange is stronger.

CS

CS is the name of the chemical (o -chlorobenzalmalonitrile), with an anti-personnel (harassing) agent. It was used as an irritant from 1964 to 1970. This chemical compound is very fine powder that was used in the war. Any exposure to CS causes terrible pain to the eyes. In the humid weather CS cause people's skin to blister. In Vietnam it is hot and humid so this chemical was used to back away enemies. When people have heavy exposure to CS there is a massive result of lung damage and even death. CS was made in the 1920s by two men who are Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton. The initials of these two men form the name of this chemical.

Malathion

Malathion is another insecticide. It is made up of (S-(1, 2-dicarbethoxyethyl)-0, 0-dimethyldithiophosphate). This chemical was sprayed from 1967 to 1972. The real name of the chemical is Diethyl [(dimethoxyphosphinothioyl) - thio]butanedioate. Malathion is also known as Carbofos, Maldison and Mercaptothion. This chemical has a Molecular mass of 330.36 g/mol. Surprisingly, Malathion is not very toxic to humans.

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