NOS.
(Designer). (2010). Need some speed?
Upgrades to pump it up. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from
http://www.aboutcar.com/car-advice/need-some-speed-upgrades-to-pump-it-up/
Laughing gas is widely used
anesthetic in the dental world, but you may not have known exactly what you
were breathing in when the dentist gave it to you before you got your tooth
pulled. Laughing gas is the common name for the sweet tasting chemical compound
called Nitrous Oxide or N2O. Nitrous Oxide is made up of two
nitrogen atoms and a single oxygen atom. Nitrous Oxide can be made artificially
by heating Ammonium Nitrate to separate it into both Nitrous Oxide gas and
water, but it also occurs naturally within our atmosphere. Now you might be
wondering why the picture you see here is of the trunk of a car, and now I’m
going to tell you why.
Nitrous Oxide has become very
popular in the car world within the past couple of years, and you might have
actually seen them in a bunch of the “Fast and Furious” movies. All of these
car tuners in this movie series use Nitrous Oxide in order to give their car
that boost that it needs to surpass their opponents. Now you might be wondering
how nitrous oxide can be used in the human body as an anesthetic, but also in a
car to make it go faster. The answer is actually quite simple! The car engine
goes through a combustion stage which ignites a very specific mixture of both
oxygen and gasoline which is lit by the spark plug. This small explosion that
occurs causes the engine to produce power! In order to make the car produce
more power, tanks filled with Nitrous Oxide are hooked up to an injection
system that takes the gas and pumps it directly into the area where the
combustion stage takes place at approximately 296°C. This then causes the
Nitrous Oxide to by broken down into two atoms of nitrogen and one atom of
oxygen. Since there is more oxygen in the engine now, the explosion in the
combustion area of the engine will become bigger and produce more power!
You might be asking yourself,
“How can Nitrous Oxide be safe for humans if it’s used in car engines?!” The
answer to this question is actually quite simple. It’s not that good for the
human body at all! Although it does work as a type of anesthetic, it can have
some fairly bad effects on the human body. In some cases, people have suffered
from heart attacks, brain damage, permanent mental deficit, and also a
deteriorating spinal cord! Although these cases are quite rare, you are really
taking quite a risk when you ask for laughing gas at the dentist!
Are there alternatives to getting
laughing gas when you go to the dentist? Yes there are! There is a product
called Lidocaine (brand name Xylocaine) that can be injected into the area that
is going to be operated on and it will “freeze” the respective area! Although
this is a great alternative to putting Nitrous Oxide into your body, not
everybody loves needles! At the end of the day, the choice is truly yours!
Beckman, N.
J. (2010). Nitrous oxide. Hazardous
Substances Data Bank. Retrieved from
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/r?dbs hsdb:@term @rn @rel
10024-97-2
Bruce , M.,
Patrick, S., Jiro, F., Kayla, P., Wes, C., & Scot, E. (24 J). Microscale
gas chemistry. Retrieved from http://mattson.creighton.edu/N2O/
Dental fear central. (2011). Retrieved
from http://www.dentalfearcentral.org/help/sedation-dentistry/laughing-gas/
Gad, S. C.
(2005). Nitrous oxide. Encyclopedia
of Toxicology. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2097/science/article/pii/B0123694000006955
Lidocaine-injection (local), xylocaine.
(2012). Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/lidocaine-injection_local/article.htm
Lousier, D.
(2010). Greenhouse gases: nitrous oxide.
Institute of Social Ecology. Retrieved from http://www.bcise.com/CurrentIssuePapers/Nitrous-Oxide.pdf
Mills, B.
(Designer). (2007). Nitrous oxide.
[Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Nitrous-oxide-3D-vdW.png
NOS.
(Designer). (2010). Need some speed?
Upgrades to pump it up. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.aboutcar.com/car-advice/need-some-speed-upgrades-to-pump-it-up/
Simmonds, N.
(n.d.). Nitrous oxide side effects are
pretty scary. Retrieved from
http://www.side-effects-site.com/nitrous-oxide-side-effects.html
Tan, P.
(2006). How does nitrous oxide work?.
Retrieved from http://paultan.org/2006/02/23/how-does-nitrous-oxide-work/
Vandana, M.
(n.d.). Manufacturing process. S.S.
Gas Lab Asia. Retrieved from http://www.nitrousoxidegasplants.com/manufacturing-process.html
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