Talk:Nitrosyl chloride

Trivia

Don't know if this really warrants a spot in the article, but it's an interesting popular reference to the compound:

In the climax of the 1979 film Alien, the creature is ejected into space through the airlock of the protagonist's escape shuttle. In order to agitate the creature out of its hiding place, the protagonist Ripley releases a jet of nitrosyl chloride gas onto it. The creature is irritated by this gas, after having shown no response to her first two attempts with iodine pentafluoride and methyl chloride. The gases were released at a console panel labeled "Special Gases". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.37.59.105 (talk) 10:21, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Two years later, and no chance of the above unsigned user probably ever seeing it; but well spotted. I too made a mental note of the compound that seemed to have an effect, which was how I first became aware of nitrosyl chlorides existence. I'm sure many a scifi nerd who had never heard of it before discovered it this way too! Crazy, huh? Now why by AlienS hadn't the corporation equipped their men with weaponized NOSL cartridges or something? BaSH PR0MPT (talk) 13:39, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

I three noticed the gases used. Initially methyl chloride, which would have been no more tham mildly irritating even to human skin (not so good on the lungs though) and seemed to have no real effect on the "bioweapon" alien, then nitrosyl chloride which did flush it out of it's hiding place. Oddly though, if you read the panel as it opens, there's also iodine pentafluoride at the top of the list of "Special Gases". Clearly Ripley isn't much of a chemist! Though she did know enough to to not bother with the isobutane. AKarley (talk) 08:17, 7 October 2017 (UTC)