Germany, 1939.
In a secret bunker on the German-Polish border, Nazi agents were overseeing the production of a recently discovered chemical they'd code-named "Substance N".
It boiled when they exposed it to air.
It exploded when it touched water, it was lethal when inhaled, and when it decomposed it spit out deadly hydrofluoric acid.
When loaded into a flamethrower and ignited, it could burn at temperatures over 2400°C.
The plan was to arm troops with "Substance N" and use it to melt allied bunkers into hot porridge.
But then after studying it for a while, even the German soldiers were like "Whoa."
Experiments with "Substance N" were discontinued because the Nazis decided it was too dangerous to work with.
Should give you some kind of sense of what we're dealing with here when we talk about the most dangerous chemicals in the world.
I'm talking about things that explode when you touch them, things so poisonous that if even a millionth of a gram went up your nose, it would end up killing you, things that could even disable you because of their totally, debilitatingly, horrifying smell, and yes, chemicals so severe, that even the Nazis thought they were crazy.
