Bullet Containing Embedded Metal Fragments

In chapters ten and eleven of the Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Keane, the focus is placed on the interaction between elements and the human body. The reader is taken on a journey through the medical history of various metals, and their beneficial factors. The trip continues to the interesting topic of chirality, or “handedness” of different proteins. On the flipside, the deadly aspects of different elements, as well as their deceptive ways are discussed. These two chapters really grabbed my attention, as medical history has always been of interest to me. Furthermore, it was very fascinating to me that such small differences in compounds, such as handedness, has such a large effect on the human body. Keane aptly proved our knowledge of elements expands, our medical capabilities multiply, and not to trust elements too easily.

Figure 3 shows a factory worker who suffered from a lethal chin sarcoma. She was but one of all the factory workers who suffered as a direct result of radium poisoning. "There was one woman who the dentist went to pull a tooth and he pulled her entire jaw out when he did it, their legs broke underneath them. Their spines collapsed.” (Hersher & Blum, 2014) says Deborah Blum, the author of the novel The Poisoners Handbook. Most of the women were dead before age 30, others suffered longer and died soon after.

New weapons were popping up and in high demand. The article from the “Council on Foreign Relations,” confirmed this by stating that knives, swords, and bayonets played a role in the war, as did older muskets and cannons that had been around for decades. However, the Civil War also saw some of the first widespread use of the Gatling gun, faster-loading rifles with rifling in the barrels, and the new, deadlier ammunition called the min-ball.” The website civilwar.org supported this throughout the article. The Gatling gun ammunition was described as “revolutionary warfare technology.” The bullets left the insides of the human body mangled, and in pieces. This damage sent the human into an extreme amount of stress. Most of the surgeons, doctors and Army Nurses struggled to repair these wounds. Evolutionized technology kept coming, as the website said, “Later on in the war carbine rifles came into use, allowing soldiers to fire six or seven rounds before reloading at the breech. Though these rifles never overtook the standard musket for widespread use or number of casualties caused, they represented a significant technological advancement for the soldiers that had them.” As the guns advanced the medical forces, and medical tools were advancing as well. However the guns advanced

The most common injury resulting from war, is physical injury. Flesh wounds, amputations, diseases; these can be categorized as physical injuries. A vital contributor to these injuries is a chemical called Agent Orange. “Agent Orange is derived from an herbi- cide called dioxin, which was used in Vietnam extensively in the areas that had foliage.” (Ybarra, Pg.126) This chemical was created with the intention of repelling insects from soldiers at war; however, it had long-standing effects on soldier’s bodies even after the war. Soldiers exposed to Agent Orange revealed similar symptoms, including; “reproduction and development effects, depression of the immune system, severe skin conditions such as chloracne, and cancers” (Palmer, Pg.174). Soldier ray quotes “I started getting worse and worse, big old rashes on my head, on my private parts, on my toes, on my fingers, everywhere.” This statement is consistent with the article, in that

Plastic’s contribution was the substrate of the circuit board that triggered the detonation of the shell as it came within a specified proximity of its target (Eisler). The proximity fuse was so successful that testing ended early when fewer than expected shells were needed to destroy all the test targets (Jennings). The vulnerability of surface ships to air attacks was reduced, and when the proximity fuse was introduced in Europe, airbursts kept German soldiers in their barracks and out of the field (Baldwin 279; Bush 27). Along with the atomic bomb and D-Day, the proximity fuse was a secret guarded with great care. These three developments were pivotal elements of the Allied victory (Jennings). Commander General of the Third Army, George S. Patton, a hard man to please, said, “The funny fuze won the Battle of the Bulge for us. I think that when all armies get this shell we will have to devise some new method of warfare.” (qtd. in Jennings). Soldiers received additional critical protection from the bubble canopies and nose cones of combat aircraft made with the new molded acrylic. Glazed acrylic, which replaced the glass in the windshields and nose cones of the bombers and fighters, was much more resistant to bullets and shrapnel, and it was permanently crystal clear (Rabin 1). Plastic canopies, along with “the greatest fighter of the war”, helped 281 pilots of North American P51-D Mustang fighters stay alive to earn

After nearly 15 years of continuous military intervention and direct combat action, soldiers returning from overseas deployments have increasingly experienced blast related traumatic brain injuries (blast induced traumatic brain injury). The asymmetrical nature of modern warfare coupled with a large insurgency has led to a shift in the class of combat casualties which occur on the contemporary battlefield. The large number of improvised explosive devises encountered by American troops has produced a dramatic rise in the number of blast related blast induced traumatic brain injury victims returning from the battlefield. During the war in Iraq nearly half of the combat injuries experienced resulted from neurotrauma related to blast exposure (Dries, 2012). Blast induced traumatic brain injury can manifest symptoms through a myriad of physical, psychological, and cognitive deficiencies due to the pathoanotomical and

The result of these heavy projectiles fired at such great velocity create not only a hole in the target, but in targets such as the human body create a wide area around the wound itself known as a temporary wound channel. This temporary wound channel is caused by hydrostatic shock. Hydrostatic shock can produce incapacitating effects much more quickly than blood loss alone. A shotgun firing buckshot, fires multiple projectiles that impact the body all at once and cause a shock overload to the system. This shock overload is very effective at incapacitating a human being. A shotgun firing slugs that are huge chunks of lead and so heavy they are weighted in ounces rather than grains has the double effect of a massive wound channel coupled a with shock overload.

British and Commonwealth troops relied on the Vickers and the Bren machine guns, which had been used in the Second World War, but were also introduced to the new American Super Bazooka, which was more effective at penetrating heavy tank armour. New Centurion tanks were used alongside

Issue: In medicine, radioisotopes are bonded with chemical compounds to form radioactive tracers, which are then injected into the patient’s bloodstream. The radiation emitted by the tracers allows doctors to obtain images of organ systems, facilitating the early and accurate diagnosis of disease. However, to avoid radio- active contamination, care must be taken in the storage, use, and disposal of this material.

Modernized shells were packed with lyddite, which is a type of acid making the shells highly explosive, and were first used by the British army in the start of the war. One of the most notable shells were called Bursting Shells. These highly explosive a hells produced a forceful burst when they were detonated by a fuse that let out sharp metals and splinters that were aimed to kill the enemy. Fuses were connected to the shells in order to control the detonation of the burst it carried. Another group of shells were called Star Shells.

Is the explosive noise damaging? The flash of light? The majority of soldiers diagnosed with

Once physical wounds were discounted, emotional and mental disorders were responsible for one-third of injury and illness (Bourke). Corporal Henry Gregory who served with the one nineteen machine gun company says, “As soon as the first shell came over, shell shock went nearly mad...it took eight men to hold him down...it is heart breaking.” Most casualties were from larger caliber artillery. These shells caused concussion, which is where the term “shell shock” is derived (Bentley). Shell shock is psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to active warfare. Brutalities from the shells resulted in over eighty thousand psychologically wounded (Bourke). Unfortunately, all that was learned before World War I about psychological and emotional injuries had been forgotten. This became a massive crisis. Arthur Hubbard suffered this psychological trauma and records he was unable to sleep or eat. He continually had nightmares with a bayonet in his face. In the winter of 1914 British doctors were struggling (Jones). Doctors and nurses did not obtain adequate

In WWI, the western front was battled in trenches which means there were not many advancements in the war due to no man's land. No man’s land was the area between trenches that separate the the two sides fighting against each other. For this reason tanks were born into the war and kept growing in the 1900. The tank had a low centre of gravity and a long track length which made it easy to cross trenches and rough terrain. With 8mm thick armour covering this war machine, small arms would not damage the tank. But when faced with heavier fire there would be bullet splash, bullet splash is when a bullet hits the tank and parts of the inside of the tank would shoot into the faces of the crew members. The solution to this problem was that the crew

Unlike bullet wounds that healed, leaving a person looking relatively the same, chemical weapons left long lasting cosmetic effects on its victims. Soldiers who were exposed suffered grizzly burns on every body part that was exposed leaving the victim looking almost sub-human for his entire life. Indeed the outward effects of the gas were extremely present, however the larger consequence of the gas attacks were mental. This mental consequence, often referred to as "Shell Shock" by the men in the trenches, is known today as PTSD.

With the start of first world war, numerous individuals both men and woman started to suffer other injurys other than just physical. Doctors would see patients come in with a nervous disorder with they thought was caused by the artillery blasts coming in contact with the human body. Because of these effects doctors would coin the famous term “Shell Shock”. Various country’s soldiers where having experiencing this problem. In Great Britain alone those treated for “Shell Shock” was reported to be approximately 80,000 but those figures are suspected to be much higher due to people not reporting it. The French and German military’s treated the affect soldiers as malingerers and giving the punishment of placing them on the front lines, closest to enemy bombardment to discourage others to follow their same example. Over time the higher ups realized that the problem wasn’t going away and had research done in the cause. Dr. Clovis Vincent provided an idea of the use of “torpedoing” which involves using electroconvulsive treatments. This is quickly abandon due to court cases of concerned citizens that the actions were to violent and also when one of the patients attacked him.