首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Despite their names, satin and soman are exceptionally ugly sisters. They are organophosphorous nerve gases. They are cheap and
Despite their names, satin and soman are exceptionally ugly sisters. They are organophosphorous nerve gases. They are cheap and
admin
2012-01-05
75
问题
Despite their names, satin and soman are exceptionally ugly sisters. They are organophosphorous nerve gases. They are cheap and simple to manufacture. And mere milligrams—just a drop—of either is enough to kill an adult in a couple of minutes. They therefore make particularly fine weapons of mass destruction, equally popular with rogue dictators who have not been able to build nuclear bombs and with weird cults such as Aum Shinrikyo, which gassed the Tokyo subway in 1995.
Detecting them soon enough to prevent their effects can be difficult. Even detecting them after the event—if you are, for example, a United Nations weapon inspector—can be haphazard. But help may be at hand. A paper in this month’s edition of Analytical Chemistry, by George Murray and his team at John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, reports a new way of picking up minute qualities of the two gases without the risk of false alarms from legitimate organophosphorous compounds such as insecticides.
Dr Murray’s detector consists of a fiber-optic cable that has one end plugged into a laser and the other coated with a metal called europium. The laser generates blue light, and europium has the property of shining red when exposed to blue light of the correct wavelength—an effect that is exploited in many optical devices. But the metal possesses a second property that makes it uniquely suitable for Dr. Murray’s purpose: it reacts strongly with organophosphates, and when it does so, the wavelength of the light that is emitting changes perceptibly.
To stop his detector going off in response to the wrong signals such as insecticide on the flea collar of a dog, Dr Murray has resorted to a second trick. The europium is embedded in a plastic film that binds specifically to sarin or soman (they are very similar molecules), using special pockets called molecular imprints that have been chemically etched into it. The organophosphates commonly used as pesticides do not fit into these pockets; and so fail to react with the metal. The result is a detector that is both sensitive ( it can pick up concentrations of as seven nerve-gas molecules in a trillion) and reasonable fast (it is able to sound the alarm within 30 seconds).
So far, Dr Murray has tested his device only on soman dissolved in water. This is mainly a safety measure, because water-borne nerve agents are easier to handle than those in gaseous form. But soman or sarin-contaminated water supplies are a real hazard in themselves—and not just in far-flung war zones. In America, for example, there are occasional leaks from military bases. The most recent was from Tooele Chemical Disposal Facility in Utah, one of the sites where the country’s chemical weapons stockpile is being destroyed. At the moment it would be hard to work out if any material from such a spill had found its way into the water supply until people started to become ill.
Dr Murray seems confident, however, that his technology will work just as well on sarin and saman gas, and has prepared "smart" cards coated with the mixture of europium and plastic to detect airborne nerve gases. Unfortunately, he does not, at the moment, have access to any place where the safety regulations will permit him to try them out. But if UN inspectors were ever allowed back into Iraq, he might have a chance.
In what situation can sarin and soman be extremely dangerous?
选项
A、Sarin and soman are cheap and simple to manufacture, a drop of either can kill an adult in several minutes, and they can be extremely dangerous in the hands of terrorists such as weird cults.
答案
解析
(第一段第三句提到这两种化合物能够造成大规模破坏,popular with dictators who have not been able to build nuclear bombs暗指恐怖主义国家独裁者,即恐怖分子,and with weird cults as Aum Shinrikyo即日本奥姆真理教这一邪教。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Atua777K
本试题收录于:
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)题库专业硕士分类
0
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)
专业硕士
相关试题推荐
Jointandseveralliability
knowledgeeconomy
stocksofbilateralinvestment
联合国教育、科学及文化组织(简称:联合国教科文组织,英文:UnitedNationsEducationalScientific:andCulturalOrganization,缩写UNESCO)成立于1946年11月,是联合国下属的专门机构之一。
Thelocalauthoritiesrealizedtheneedtomake______totelderlypeopleintheirhousingprograms.
AsacandidatefortheMaster’sDegreeprogramintranslation,whatdoyouthinkaprofessionaltranslatorshouldbeequippedwi
Intermsofpurequantityofresearchanddebate,businessschoolshaveperformedamazinglyinpromotingmanagementasadistinc
Intermsofpurequantityofresearchanddebate,businessschoolshaveperformedamazinglyinpromotingmanagementasadistinc
Full-timefacultyandstaffontheUniversitypayroll,whenapplyingforanannualpermit,mayauthorizepaymentoftheirparkin
Theideaofculturalpreservationandtheteachingofhumanitiesare______.However,therehasbeenalong-standinglackofempha
随机试题
关于多层螺旋CT探测器的描述,错误的是
患者心烦不寐,心悸不安,头晕,耳鸣健忘,腰酸梦遗,五心烦热,口干津少,舌红,脉细数。其治法是
非固定销售货物或者应税劳务,应当向()的主管税务机关申报纳税。
下列说法中,正确的有()。
对于监督检查部门在监督检查不正当竞争行为时的职权,下列描述正确的是( )。
教育的心理起源说否认了教育的()。
西部某省经济和医疗卫生条件都比较落后。该省卫生部门领导一直设想在该省大力推广中医,培养中西医结合的医师。并让全省所有医生学会真气运行法,免费向患者传授,以此扩大基础医疗覆盖面,同时,减少群众医疗开支。该领导上任之后,对该省的医疗卫生事业采取了一系
下列关于法律规则的论述,正确的是()。
toovercome
TheGreatLymeDebateThere’sadebateragingoverLymedisease,althoughyou’dneverknowitunlessyou’vebeenpayingclose
最新回复
(
0
)