As I understand it, the whole point of spraying NO2 is to add more oxygen to the combustion chamber, so you can burn more fuel in the cylinder. Is there a reason that people don't just use straight oxygen? It seems like it would be more efficient, and therefore give more power. I can't see it being any more expensive than NO2, it's used in medicine and construction (oxy-aceteline torches), and you don't have 1/3 of the mass being used up by a mostly inert element. Just wondering.

 

N2O is actually only 1/3 oxygen, which is much better than the 19% we get in normal air. Could a car potentially run on pure O2, I guess it could, but a couple problems

1.) the combustion temperatures would be extremely high, the thing would detonate like crazy

2.) Pure oxygen is highly flammable, one of the nice things about nitrous is that its pretty inert until it hits a certain temp (I think approx 575 degrees, where the Nitrogen seperates from the Oxygen). Also when the Nitrogen seperates from the Oxygen it cools the air, which increases horsepower and reduces detonation.

Just my $0.02

 

Pure O2 into your engine would go BOOM!!!!
Nitrous isn't really flamable.

 

Very good question, I have always wondered the same thing. Great post

 

Yes, it would be like feeding a cutting torch into the engine.

QUOTE][[/i] 2.) Pure oxygen is highly flammable, one of the nice things about nitrous is that its pretty inert until it hits a certain temp (I think approx 575 degrees, where the Nitrogen seperates from the Oxygen). Also when the Nitrogen seperates from the Oxygen it cools the air, which increases horsepower and reduces detonation.[/QUOTE]

Oxygen isn't flamable, but it promotes combustion very vigorously. In other words, while you still need a fuel, a pure oxygen environment will allow the fuel to burn extremely vigorously.

Two big advantages of N2O are that when it decomposes to N2 and O2 (at 575F) it forms 3 moles of gas from 2 moles of N2O (2 moles of N2 and 1 mole of O2). That gives a cylinder pressure boost right there. And second, the decomposition is endothermic. In other words, it absorbs heat, so the charge is cooled. Since N20 is 1/3 oxygen while normal air is only 1/5 oxygen, more oxygen is available to burn more fuel too.

 

ok, thanks for explaining that. I was under the assumption that the only point was to add more O2, but it seems there is more to it than that.

 

A guy in Knoxville TN put a tank of o2 in his VW...He left the line, as soon as he quit spinning he hit it. The car revved in a snap...then in a snap he literally blew the engine in half. The blast separated the block about 2 inches below the deck. Everything past that point was scattered all over the place. He ended up having to replace the lower support cradle of the car along with a laundry list of parts. it was absolutely violent. I think the best way to describe it is chewing on a stick of glycerin. Wouldn't be much left.

 

O.K. does that mean you shouldn't spray if you're bottle's almost empty? Because when my bottle's running low, and I purge, I don't get a white cloud, just air. If I spray when I'm running that low is my engine gonna blow?

 

No. You'll be very rich, too much fuel, not enough oxidizer. Power will drop due to the over-rich condition, but the engine shouldn't blow.

The dangerous condition is when you get N2O flow but no extra fuel flow (for example due to a failed fuel solenoid). That over-lean condition *can* (almost certainly *will*) damage the engine.

 

I'm not talking about spraying when the bottle is completely empty. If you purge and it comes out clear, isn't that air? So when if I spray isn't that spraying air into the engine?

 

i don't know alot about nitrous but my dad has an hvac company and i work for him. when freon is under alot of pressure (as liquid) it forms a white freezing spray if it gets out of its container however if it is under low pressure (as gas) it does not. therefore i cunclude that it is not spraying white because there is not enough pressure on the line when it is released to have a liquid coming out. when something losses pressure it gets cooler and vice versa and the higher the difference in pressure the more it will cool when it goes to the lower pressure. plus if they put only n20 in there, there is no way air can come out.
? when the n2o is in the bottle around 1000 psi is it a liquid

 

If there is liquid in the bottle and it is laying in the proper position it will spray liquid, ie white. When the bottle gets down to 2-3 lbs of nitrous it will usually just spray a gas.

I would not spray with less than 4 lbs just to be safe. What I usually do is transfer from my almost empty bottle to a fuller one, I have 3. I got a 12" line made and freeze the fuller bottle and heat the amost empty one and it will transfer from one to the other. Sometimes I have to do it twice to get it all but it does work.

 

when you say 4 pounds do you mean 400 psi

 

I believe he means 4lbs of nitrous in the bottle, not psi.

 

Yes 4 lbs of nitrous not psi. You can make the psi anything you want, just depends on how much you heat it.

 

sorry for the dumb question. thanks

 

N2O uses the nitrogen to control the ocmbustion so it doesnt make ur engine go boom

 

I heard tell of an aerospace engineer who tried to use LOX to boost his car engine at the drag strip. Apparently it worked great... for about 1.5 seconds... and then an extremely violent detonation helped the crank cut the engine in half. There was shrapnel everywhere, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt. I guess officials at the track did not particularly appreciate the attempt... Back to the drawing board!

 

Would a high octane fuel or maybe even methanol be able to supress the detonation when spraying pure o2? I know that methanol runs cooler than gas, but is it enough to keep the pure o2 from detonating?

 

I'm no expert, but my guess is if the O2 solution were possible and practical, it would be employed by at least some folks in the racing industry. Anybody heard of O2 being used like this anywhere? I have not.