Eli5: What made Napalm so useful as a weapon of war and what were some of the drawbacks of its use in warfare?

Question

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

Answer 1

Napalm is basically gelled fuel.

Pros:
– sticks to things
– burns hot, like scary hot
– can be dropped from aircraft

Cons:
– sticks to things
– kind of hard to extinguish
– indiscriminately kills, because it’s fire.