nitrous oxide: planet killer

[Legba]

source

No laughing matter: Happy gas to punch hole in ozone layer

New research shows that nitrous oxide, also known as happy gas, is now the most abundant ozone-depleting substance in the atmosphere.

A paper published in the journal Science reveals the increasing levels of the gas will cause more damage to the ozone layer than the more commonly known chloroflourocarbons (CFCs).

The research found emissions of nitrous oxide are now present in such large amounts that it will remain the most damaging ozone-depleting substance throughout the 21st centry.

Dr A Ravishankara from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an international treaty has stemmed the use of CFCs, but nitrous oxide is still not regulated.

"Currently ozone depletion in the stratosphere is largely due to the chlorofluorocarbons that have been already put in the atmosphere," he said.

"But if you continue to put nitrous oxide it will contribute more and more to the ozone layer depletion in the future."

Nitrous oxide has been used by Australian doctors and dentists as an anaesthetic for more than 160 years.

Dr Ravishankara says scientists knew nitrous oxide was causing damage to the ozone layer, but his study shows its effect is larger than they had suspected.

[eexpee]

Im sure it is just an excuse to get it regulated to people stop using it recreationally...

[mac]

Im sure it is just an excuse to get it regulated to people stop using it recreationally...

Yes sounds like BS to me

i want to see some independent study before they try to take my nangers away from me as well , i got cream that need whipping n cakes to bake

[Neoshaman]

Yes sounds like BS to me

i want to see some independent study before they try to take my nangers away from me as well , i got cream that need whipping n cakes to bake

My question is where the hell is all this nitrous coming from !!!! surely there is not enough medical/recreational use of it as a drug to allow such high quanties to accumulate in the atmosphere

[ThunderIdeal]

don't forget baking.... and probably outweighing all of the above, motor racing. plus inert gases get used for various purposes.

then again, as racing fuel it must get converted to something else.

[mu!]

when i saw the thread title i was thinkin it would have something to do with all those little metal canisters goin to the tip, but i guess that stuff gets recycled.. you'd think

[mac]

don't forget baking.... and probably outweighing all of the above, motor racing. plus inert gases get used for various purposes.

then again, as racing fuel it must get converted to something else.

I dont think any conversion takes place, its mainly the extra oxygen in N2O that lets them run a much richer fuel mix, so i dont think anything is converted just creates more power & better combustion with larger amounts of fuel than the engine could normally handle without the lower density & higher % oxygen nos creates

[Neoshaman]

I dont think any conversion takes place, its mainly the extra oxygen in N2O that lets them run a much richer fuel mix, so i dont think anything is converted just creates more power & better combustion with larger amounts of fuel than the engine could normally handle without the lower density & higher % oxygen nos creates

I know soda straem etc uses it but what about large manufacturers like coke and pepsi would they be using it to gas all their drinks ???????

[ThunderIdeal]

i believe it's usually CO2, which i know is also used to propel paint-balls out of paint-guns. probably much cheaper than N2O

[mu!]

I know soda straem etc uses it but what about large manufacturers like coke and pepsi would they be using it to gas all their drinks ???????

nah they use carbon dioxide for that. Nitrous oxide is used in Guiness though. If you buy 440ml cans of the stuff (which you wouldnt coz that'd be ridiculous, drinking beer from a can ) when you shake the empty can you hear the little plasic ball (the "Widget") which releases N20 as you drink. So your Guinness always maintains that thick creamy head down to the last drop

NOTE: drink Guinness from an ice-cold glass which you've poured into from a bottle, not the crappy cans. Something about beer & aluminium just dont jiiiiiiiiive right turkey

[Alchemica]

Im sure it is just an excuse to get it regulated to people stop using it recreationally...

Hmmm.

Shops sell party gas drug

PETROL stations, newsagents and convenience stores are selling nitrous oxide - commonly known as "happy gas" - to customers who inhale them for the high.

The state's peak health bodies have expressed shock that the potentially lethal gas is being sold over the counter.

The 10ml canisters - which come in a 10-pack that sells for $7 - are popular with the weekend party crowd.

The cylinders - which are legal - are designed to be inserted inside whipped-cream dispensers.

But a staff member at one store said they did a roaring trade on Friday and Saturday nights.

"Not just kids, everybody buys them," he said.

When asked why people bought the cylinders, he said: "They sniff it, you know, to get high". The Sunday Mail sent a 14-year-old into a store to buy the gas, which he was handed without question.

Australian Medical Association SA president Dr Andrew Lavender said people had suffered brain damage and even died from inhaling nitrous oxide in uncontrolled environments and enclosed spaces.

He said he was concerned the gas - once used by doctors as an anaesthetic - was so readily available.

"It is of concern that any substance that has potential for abuse would be readily available and seemingly in circumstances that would be targeting a market of young people on their night out," he said.

"Any inhaling of gases is very, very dangerous.

"As well as the effect of the gas itself, by inhaling that you may not be receiving enough oxygen."

Drug and Alcohol Services SA executive director Keith Evans was also concerned.

"Our preference would be that it is not positioned in such an obvious manner," he said. "It's not illegal to sell them here but it is illegal to knowingly sell to someone you know is likely to be using them for sniffing purposes.

"We recognise they have a legitimate use but, given the circumstances, it's clear in this case the individual knows it is going to be used as a drug." He said the canisters were often sold at petrol stations, hardware stores, stationery suppliers, newsagents and supermarkets.

Nitrous oxide inhalation can cause euphoria, numbness, giddiness, light-headedness, distorted perceptions and anxiety.

Breathing in the gas also causes displacement of oxygen from the lungs, which can lead to unconsciousness and even death.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0...22-2682,00.html

[Μορφέας]

anyone have some dynamic chemistry to illustrate how nitrous gas depletes ozone?

[Alchemica]

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=N46DxR...;q=&f=false should answer the question.

N2O sources: http://www.epa.gov/nitrousoxide/sources.html

Edited September 6, 2009 by Alchemica

[Smiling Cloud]

My question is where the hell is all this nitrous coming from !!!! surely there is not enough medical/recreational use of it as a drug to allow such high quanties to accumulate in the atmosphere

It comes from using fertilisers that have nitrogen in them. I was watching some news the other day and they were talking about a 'dam motor that produces 4 times less Nitrous oxide then any other moter of its size.' It was a massive motor, as big as a house. So motors might make nitrous as well...

[Hendry]

I've seen a few people who had acess to tanks of N20 and didn't seem to know when to say when (fortunatley I wasn't one of those people) That being said hopefully they don't ban it. There is a valuable niche in our society that only hippycrack can fill.......er maybe?

[ThunderIdeal]

anybody seen this link?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock%27s_Long_Shadow

apparently livestock accounts for 65% of nitrous oxide being let into the atmosphere. most of it isn't directly coming from their gut, it comes from growing their feed.