Eli5: What made Napalm so useful as a weapon of war and what were some of the drawbacks of its use in warfare?
In: 196
Sticky fire.
Imagine being tarred and feathered, where you can’t get it off of you easily, and the tar was on fire. You’d definitely have a bad day. It was effective in that it would eliminate enemies pretty easily.
Drawbacks would be lighting yourself for one thing.
It was horrifically effective in setting stuff on fire and keeping it on fire. It was easy to deploy. The drawbacks are that it is evil to set people on fire intentionally, which was one of it’s main effects
Sticky fire.
Imagine being tarred and feathered, where you can’t get it off of you easily, and the tar was on fire. You’d definitely have a bad day. It was effective in that it would eliminate enemies pretty easily.
Drawbacks would be lighting yourself for one thing.
It was horrifically effective in setting stuff on fire and keeping it on fire. It was easy to deploy. The drawbacks are that it is evil to set people on fire intentionally, which was one of it’s main effects
Sticky fire.
Imagine being tarred and feathered, where you can’t get it off of you easily, and the tar was on fire. You’d definitely have a bad day. It was effective in that it would eliminate enemies pretty easily.
Drawbacks would be lighting yourself for one thing.
It was horrifically effective in setting stuff on fire and keeping it on fire. It was easy to deploy. The drawbacks are that it is evil to set people on fire intentionally, which was one of it’s main effects
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It sticks to whatever it hits, and burns intensely for some time afterwards. It can be put out with standard dry chemical retardants, but if you disturb a pile of gel near enough to another still flaming pile it will reignite. Napalm does not typically contain an oxidizing agent which is why you can put out without the use of special chemicals.
Napalm not only effectively defoliates and destroys soft targets in a given area, but also makes that area impassable for infantry without armoured vehicles.
This means that not only is napalm good at killing infantry (because even in an actual protective suit you can still roast), it is also incredibly effective at controlling the movement of enemy units, which arguably is more important than the damage potential. There’s a psychological trigger between humans and fire that’s difficult for one to contend with.
Napalm is sticky fire so if you attempt to brush it off you, you just spread it over a greater area and make it worse. However it is also known as a fuel air explosive so it you ignite it over a trench the napalm burns all the oxygen in the air and the people in the trench suffocate even if they have no burns on them.
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