Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from house Stuff Works dot Com, where
Speaker 1: smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, what does
Speaker 1: tear gas do? Tear gas is used both by the
Speaker 1: police for crowd control and by individuals for self defense.
Speaker 1: There are three kinds of tear gas in common use.
Speaker 1: First there's CN, which is often sold as mace. Then
Speaker 1: there's CS, which is stronger than CN but wears off
Speaker 1: more quickly, and finally there's pepper spray made from cap
Speaker 1: sasan from chili peppers mixed with a vehicle like corn oil.
Speaker 1: Tear gas that you hear about on the news, in
Speaker 1: the form of CN or CS is often used by
Speaker 1: law enforcement when they face a combative crowd. The tear
Speaker 1: gas is launched in the form of grenades or aerosol cans,
Speaker 1: so the liquid becomes an aerosol. Both CN and CS
Speaker 1: are irritants. They irritate mucus membranes and the eyes, nose, mouth,
Speaker 1: and lungs and cause tearing, sneezing, coughing, and so on.
Speaker 1: Pepper spray is an inflammatory agent that causes inflammation in
Speaker 1: the eyes, nose, and mouth. Its effect is more debilitating,
Speaker 1: but you have to hit someone with it directly for
Speaker 1: it to be effective. This makes it more useful for
Speaker 1: self defense because you can spray your assailant in the
Speaker 1: face with it. It's also useful against attacking dogs and bearers.
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