nath_gtir

"Hmmmm... Why do you think that the nitrous oxide REPLACES air in the cylinder?" Because cylinder volume doesn't magically increase when you add nitrous so it has to replace something it's the Law of conservation of matter. "How does 3.6ml of Oxygen atoms suddenly halve in volume when bonded to form molecules?" Because it is to do with kinetic energy and molecular/atomic orbital theory, thats like asking why does the volume increase in water when we heat it to steam. Dough boy: I am just making a comparison that is all but thanks for the info...nice insight! and I dont need temp I am simply making a point about oxygen availability per mole of N2O opposed to oxygen from air, But you are right technically (PV=nRT- ideal gas equation). As I said this is my opinion and I will stick to

Ooppsss we are already over it... your atmopsheric composition looks roughly right of course it depends if your inner city or country to what the composition is.

Look Chemistry aside do some minor calculations: just say 1 shot = 10ml of N2O 10ml of N2O will displace 10ml of normal air N2O contains 36% O atoms therefore 10ml of N2O will contain 0.36 x 10ml = 3.6ml of O atoms which will equal 1.8ml of O2 molecules if they form oxygen before combustion according to Merril However air already contains 20% of Oxygen so 10mls of air will equal (0.2x 10ml) 2ml of O2 molecules Hence atmospheric air already has more oxygen in it then the nitrous per volume. Who here has seen simply winding the boost (adding more oxygen) up outperforms adding nos in terms of power gains.....its radical molecular mechanism man!

I could go on and on here so lets just agree to disagree everyone has an opinion, who you believe is up to you!

I may hold you for the ride in the car one day. BTW you can get instrument grade nitrous for cheaper then the shit you buy at autobarn (99.9999% pure).

Ok any cooling effect would be lost to the high exothermic reaction that is produced when you mix N2O, a hydrocarbon and an ignition source so it's not really applicable. Oxygen (its the oxidizing agent in a combustion reaction) is not flammale on it's own and it needs a fuel source and an ignition source....just read an MSDS on it, again if it were oxygen availability then wouldn't pumping more oxygen into the engine make more sense even if its just an oxygen enriched compressed air? It is all about thermodynamics and the stability of the end product from combustion (such as CO,CO2, H2O etc). Nitrous will immediately break down to nitrogen and an oxyanion (or more correctly radical as Dan states, my bad) as nitrogen prefers to be on it's own (more stable), the oxygen free radical can now have a few options 1.) It can rebond to a nitrogen molecule to reform nitrous 2.) It can rebond with another oxygen molecule (it is not stable bonding to just another radical to form oxygen as the quantum physics dont add up from this reaction) to form ozone or 3.) It can oxidize (donating the radical electron) the hydrocarbons producing an enormous amount of energy and forming very stable products such as water and CO. If one was to look up the gibbs free energies of these reactions they would find that option number three will be the most favoured both thermodynamically, and from a stoichemetry point of view. Anyway this translates into more energy released per unit fuel. N2O + Hydrocarbon + e- ----> N2 + H2O +CO + Heat It really isn't possible to have pure oxygen produced by reacting two moles of N2O with the prescence of fuel, a spark, pressure and higher temp its just not thermodynamics or quantum physics. This is a basic explanation off the top of my head (and now it hurts...hahaha) so please don't make me look up my 3rd year uni Physical Chemistry Books and give you an actual numbers. "Inflammable means flammable......What a country!"

Gojira: I was making the point it is not flammable in its own right by explaining how it replaces pure O2 in the combustion process but that web page is very interesting. The author really empahsizes the fact that N2O actually increases oxygen availability, if this was the case then why dont we just use pure O2 instead of N2O? Oxygen is a smaller molecule and there would be more oxygen in the same space without nitrogen to get in the road? Also I dont think that people who shoot NOs into thier engine need to run richer. I would envisage that the N2O, under certain conditions, would break down to Nitrogen and an Oxyanion (single oxygen atom with excess electrons). This Oxyanion is very unstable (compared to an oxygen molecule) and wants to get rid of the excess electrons and does it with a great release of energy by bonding to a carbon atom or even a couple of hydrogen atoms and hence more energy produced per unit fuel. I have used nitrous oxide in instruments before (to atomise and evaporate metals). Just as a comparison the flame from an acetylene nitrous oxide mix compared to the of a oxygen and acetylene mix is a lot more hotter from the same fuel mix and flow rates. Sorry to go on like that but take it or leave it. Wouldn't it be funny to vent the nitrous near a group of people and actually just watch them start to get high from the mild anaesthetic effects of nitrous (laughing gas). I dont recommend it though!

Nitrous Oxide is not flammable on its own, however once it is mixed with a hydrocarbon like fuel and an ignition source then you have an explosion on your hands. It works in a similar fashion to that of oxygen in a fire, in that it is the oxidizing agent needed to perpetuate the reaction. It produces a more intense heat and hence more energy is liberated per unit fuel.