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Ricin

  • Key Stage 3
  • Popular Activity
  • Topical

Type: Activity
Learning Strategy: Information retrieval
Topic: Purifying materials

Ricin is one of the most deadly poisons known – 12,000 times more toxic than rattlesnake venom – and there is no antidote. It is most famous for its role in the 1978 'Umbrella Assassination'. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov had been waiting for a bus when he felt something sharp jab him in the leg. Three days later he was dead. A specially adapted umbrella had been used to push a pellet of poison beneath his skin. As the wound reddened, a lethal dose of ricin was leaking into Markov's blood. The assassin's identity has long been a mystery. But now he can be brought to trial. In this activity, students prepare a brief on ricin for the prosecution barrister.

Published: 14th June 2005
Reviews & Comments: 6

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Learning objectives

Students will consolidate work on the separation of mixtures, by looking at how ricin is extracted from seeds, and pick out relevant information for a report.

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7H Solutions
• Classify solids as insoluble or soluble
• Describe how mixtures can be separated

Running the activity

Page 1 introduces the topic and sets the task. Page 2 is a sorting activity and provides the data they need. The 16 cards contain information about ricin. They need to be cut out and sorted into four groups to show:
1. How to make ricin
2. How to poison someone with it
3. Its effect on the body
4. The amount needed to kill
The class needs to be split into small groups to promote discussion. Students need to pick out the information most relevant to the 'Umbrella Assassination' of Georgi Markov. They use it to prepare a brief for the prosecution barrister in the suspect's trial. Each group could report back to the rest of the class or other examples of ricin's use in bioterrorism could be discussed – see web links below.

News links

Guardian
The story of Markov's 'umbrella assassin'.
The History of Poisoning
Detailed, but readable, account of the assassination of Georgi Markov. Links to potted info on ricin at end of article.
Virtual Naval Hospital
Historical Overview of Biological Warfare - including good diagram of 'the umbrella' and the lethal pellet.
Guardian
Details about ricin's affects on the body.
Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning
Facts about ricin from the US government.
Cambridge2000
Good photos of the Castor Oil plant.
Kew
Good image of a Castor Oil seed stored in the Millennium Seed Bank.

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'Wikiedscience

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