Originally Posted by fellro86
Nitrogen is part of it, correct? It has 2 parts nitrogen, 1 part oxygen.
Originally Posted by weeds
Ok, Nitrogen and N2O are two different animals. We've gone over chemistry before, but it looks like we have to do it again. Nitrogen in the atmosphere is N2...that's it, nothing else-N2O is, well, N2O. Reacts differently. You breathe it in, it takes the place of where oxygen would go in your blood, and you get loopy, sick, or dead.
As another example of how chemistry works in weird ways...take Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl). Pure Sodium explodes when you put it into water, Chlorine is a poisonus gas, combine the two (NaCl) and (whalah!) you get SALT!
Not really guys. N2O is Nitrous Oxide, known as laughing gas and an anaesthetic.
What we are talking about as a byproduct of combustion is NOx - NO and NO2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_oxide
And as you point out Weeds, one small change in the chemical formula makes a big change in what the material is and how it behaves.