The US government have been busy this week denying that pepper spray is a chemical (spoiler, it is a chemical). They’ve also been at pains to point out that it’s not the same as tear gas, which is at least technically correct. I’ve had a lot of requests over the past week for a graphic looking at tear gas, so here it is!
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.compoundchem.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-chemistry-of-tear-gas.png?resize=370%2C208&ssl=1)