British scientists have confirmed that the nerve agent used in the August 21 gas attacks in Syria was sarin. However, their U.S. and other European counterparts are also carrying out tests to rule out a possibility of false positives.

Chemicals similar to sarin, such as soman or VX, exist and produce similar side effects, so additional testing must be done to clearly identify the substance. Each chemical has a unique pattern of molecular breakdown, which for sarin is 99-125-81.

Watch below an animation showing how scientists test and identify sarin.


Produced by Reuters