Friday 04 October 2024
Font Size
   
Tuesday, 31 May 2011 18:00

Three Smart Things About Nitrous Oxide

Rate this item
(0 votes)

Illustration: Brent Couchman

  • 1. Kids who suck nitrous from Reddi-wip cans are part of a noble tradition. The scientist who discovered the analgesic properties of N2O, Humphry Davy, didn’t use it to perform root canals. He held “inhalation experiments” (involving as much as 80 quarts of laughing gas) with his buds, including junkie poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
  • 2. Anyone who has seenThe Fast and the Furious knows that nitrous is used for enhancing race car performance. But don’t try this at home—add too much of it to your engine and you could melt the pistons. Both the Nazis and the Allies used it to boost their aircraft’s performance at high altitudes, where oxygen is scarce.
  • 3. It could turn the beverage industry on its ear. Standard sodas get their fizz from carbon dioxide, which imparts a harsh edge that cola connoisseurs call “burn and bite.” Replacing the CO2 with N2O would give the bubbles a rounder, softer mouthfeel (but probably wouldn’t get you high).

Authors:

French (Fr)English (United Kingdom)

Parmi nos clients

mobileporn