gaijin

Attention science folks! Anybody attempted to use Nitrous Oxide (N2O) cartridges instead of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in their pumps? It's a lot cheaper to buy a box of 'em at the local Smart and Final (or head shop for some of you!) and at the end of your ride you can suck the gas out of your tubes for a nice cool down! Would it be safe? Would it last in the tube?

Thanks--gaijin

deliriou5

HAHAHAHAHA what the.... LOL is this a joke?

Dannihilator

Not a good Idea at all.

gaijin

At least the original question is not a joke. Every time I go to Smart and Final and I see the box of "Easy Whip" cartridges it makes me think.

Saso

Why isnt it a good idea? Its lighter than co2 lets hear why N20 isnt a good choice.

deliriou5

N2O is laughing gas.... lots of kids abuse it.... you know, buy cans of whipping cream just to snort the gas.

CO2 has a molecular weight of 44
N2O has a molecular weight of 44

roadfix

HAHAHAHA.......in that case, I'll stick with plain 'ole O2.....molecular weight of 32!

George

froze

Great idea! Why heck if you were racing and was in second place with only 20 yards to the finish line and the first place guy was only a maybe a wheel length ahead, you could puncture your rear tire and light a match then BOOM, the resulting explosion would blow you into first place! OK, I'll stop inhaling the N2O now-darn!

SamDaBikinMan

How about helium in your tires, then you can just float over the top of the competition.

BlastRadius

At least with N2O you wouldn't be contributing to a Greenhouse Gas.

khuon

Hmmm... several things to think about:

I don't know if the NO2 cartridges have the same amount of pressure as the CO2 cartridges. If they have less then you might have a problem getting your tubes inflated to the right pressure. Also, I haven't seen any NO2 cartridges which are threaded so those of us using threaded inflators wouldn't be able to use them. And I'm not sure where you're getting your pricing from but IME even a bulkload of cases of NO2 cartridges (read: 600 cartridges) works out to around US$2.50/cartridge. That's definately not cheaper than CO2 cartridges.

lotek 

Nitrous Oxide isn't flammable, neither is Helium.

Marty

DieselDan

Nitrous Oxide isn't explosive? How? It is used in drag racing in both Top Fuel and Funny Car and in some street classes as a "boot". Ever heard of NOS (Nitrous Oxide System)?

Nitrogen is used in race car tires and to power the pnumatic impact wrenches used to change tires in pit stops. I don't believe N is used in bike racing as you don't deal with near the extreme high tempatures. I'll just stick to CO2 for now.

Ebbtide

Sorry, it is not explosive or flammable. The nitrous gas is cold and condenses the oxygen that burns the fuel.

Phatman

I thought it was because the Nitrous has more oxygen per volume then regular air, thus getting more air into the engine.

DieselDan, I think that racecar tires use helium in them to make them lighter and also the fact that helium resists the heat buildup better. I think that they would use helium in bike racing, except it leaks really fast (smaller molecule?) and there is not a whole lot of air in a bike tire anyway.

they use regular air in impact wrenches. it is just compressed with a compressor.

Stubacca

It's a bit of both.

When nitrous is heated (above 570F, I think) it splits into oxygen and nitrogen, thus making more oxygen available for combustion in the engine. And when it vaporizes, it provides a cooling effect on the intake air, which increases the air's density thus making even more oxygen available for combustion.

Not flammable at all.

Avalanche325

N2O is not explosive or even flammable. The cooling effect mentioned is valid but minimal. The reason that it is used in cars for a boost is that is acts as a CATYLIST for the fuel. This is due to the added oxygen content. This makes it burn hotter and faster, thus giving a boost in horsepower. And the occasional burnt piston.

PS. N2O is not used in top fuel, they burn nitromethane.

BlastRadius

Good point about the pressure. Expanding liquid CO2 can easily get up to 600-800psi (i.e. paintball guns) but I doubt getting cream into a frothy whipped consistency requires that much pressure.

All you want to know about Nitrous Oxide... https://www.cganet.com/N2O/factsht.asp

Saso

I drag race cars....Nitrous is gas form contains high amounts of O2 (oxygen) so injecting N20 increases the volume of O2. More O2 + fuel = more HP. Also N20 cools the intake charge or AIT (air intake temps) very important on high HP drag cars, cools cyclinder temps and is also used to spool turbo cars. Top Fuel cars use nitromethane different than n20. N20 is NOT flammable.

ngateguy

NO2 is classified as a non flammable gas but in my Emergency Response Guide Book (for handling and clean up of hazardous materials) this is what they say about it


" Substance does not burn, but it will support combustion
Some may react explosively with fuels
May ignite combustibles (wood,paper,clothing,etc)
Vapors from liquefied gas are initially heavier than air and spread along the ground
Run off may create fire or explosion hazard......"

Where CO2 is non flammable although you do not want to inhale it and you must be cautious of freeze burns. I'll stick to the CO2 it seems a bit more stable.

froze

Yeah I knew that, but it sounded good! KABOOM

gazedrop

Booyah and Saso are dead on about the use of N20 to increase output in internal combustion engines.

And no, it's not (as previously mentioned) in itself flammable. It's an accelerant, meaning that it aids rapid combustion.

And nitrogen is used to power air tools and air jacks in the hotpits (i.e. trackside) in motor racing for the fast pit stops. The reason they (we) use the big bottles of nitrogen is that they have extremely high pressure (our bottles are rated to 2000 psi of storage capacity, but you can get bigger) and can support high air flow volume for short periods of time. An air compressor just can't get a motorcycle (or car) elevated fast enough for a fast pitstop. It's cheap, too! If you've already paid for the bottle (the expensive part), a refill for a 2000 lb. bottle only costs about 27 bucks at Airgas or Praxair.

The reason that it's used in tires is not for any weight reason, but because it doesn't expand with the high tire temps seen in motor racing (we aim for 180 degrees F on supersport motorcycle tires). By having pressure rise under control, you can acheive better repeatability in the tire's traction behavior. (In addition to a daily calibrated tire gauge with a padded box guarded like the crown jewels!)

Before anyone points out that the atmosphere is indeed 78% nitrogen, part of that remaining 22% is moisture----the main thing that expands in tires when heated. Then add the moisture from the tire mounting process. The nitrogen that comes out of the bottles is "dry".

Here's the full routine for you other motor racers who are (obviously) lurking out there:

1) Mount tires. Set beads as per normal and set pressure.
2) Balance tires.
3) Break the bead on one side only of the balanced tire.
4) With the tire laying on its side, push the bead down away from the rim on the side opposite the valve stem.
5) While holding the bead down, start inflating with nitrogen. When you feel the cool nitrogen flowing past your hand, count to 2 or 3. This step purges most of the plain ol' wet air out of the tire.
6) Release your hand while still filling. This will set the bead.

You now have a tire that won't rise as much during the race. You will, however, need to re-adjust your starting pressure. Go a pound at a time, and keep an eye on those tire temps...

Now, back to the bicycles!
-Erik

miamijim

Nitrous Oxide does both...it introduce more oxygen into the combustion chamber allowing for more fuel to be introduced and it cools the intake charge making for a more dense air mixture which allows for more fuel as well.

Nitrous Oxide is not flamable but I cant figure out how you get 'nitrous/intake explosions from it pooling up.

CO2 is 10X more disolvable in blood than regular. Suppose you have a cut on you hand and accidently blast it with your CO2 cartridge....you really dont need to worry about a CO2 bubble getting into your arteries....N20 on the other hand...isnt there something about nitrogen and scuba diving and nitrogen bubbling in your blood? Blast an open cut with one of those and who knows what might happen,

GT_ATB32

would helium work in a tire???

Saso

The pooling up is when the n20 sits or settles in a part of the motor during the car being off eg. Intake manifold . When the key is turned and the mixture enters the cyclinder( usually in a lean condition) that spells explosion, hence why cars have safety switches to prevent N20 injection at idle. Other pooling is when the distribution of N20 is uneven resulting in a cyclinder running lean (not enough fuel). The lean condition will cause deadly detonation.
Race grade N20 contains sulphur and cannot be abused unlike medical grade N20.