Nitrous oxide
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 2019-03-04

Nitrous oxide, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37441 / CC BY SA 3.0

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Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or nitrous, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, with a slight metallic scent and taste. At elevated temperatures, nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidizer similar to molecular oxygen.
It is soluble in water.

Nitrous oxide has significant medical uses, especially in surgery and dentistry, for its anaesthetic and pain reducing effects. Its name "laughing gas", coined by Humphry Davy, is due to the euphoric effects upon inhaling it, a property that has led to its recreational use as a dissociative anaesthetic. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. It also is used as an oxidizer in rocket propellants, and in motor racing to increase the power output of engines.

Nitrous oxide occurs in small amounts in the atmosphere, but recently has been found to be a major scavenger of stratospheric ozone, with an impact comparable to that of CFCs. It is estimated that 30% of the in the atmosphere is the result of human activity, chiefly agriculture.

Nitrous oxide may be used as an oxidizer in a rocket motor. This is advantageous over other oxidisers in that it is much less toxic, and due to its stability at room temperature is also easier to store and relatively safe to carry on a flight. As a secondary benefit, it may be decomposed readily to form breathing air. Its high density and low storage pressure (when maintained at low temperature) enable it to be highly competitive with stored high-pressure gas systems.

In a 1914 patent, American...