Besides being used to boost engine performance and as an anaesthetic, nitrous oxide is used as propellant in whipped cream bottles.
Once the cream is used up, the remaining gas could be put to other uses, either as laughing gas (as some dessert chefs were known to do years ago) or to boost performance in a car.
A simple rubber tube from the outlet of the bottle, through the firewall, and into the inlet of the engine will work for this purpose. When extra power is needed, just press on the nozzle of the can to release some nitrous oxide into the intake. You might need to use several bottles to get enough gas, and have a passenger opperate the whole apparatus, but this rig would work well for street racers on the cheap.-- discontinuuity, Aug 03 2005 (?) 02 vs N02 http://www.madsci.o...896316453.Ch.r.htmlA thought provoking question, [bungston]. [Zimmy, Aug 05 2005] (??) Stranger than fiction. http://www.chron.co...mpl/bizarre/3264385 [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 05 2005] nitrous system for pocket bike http://www.badbros.net/minidragbike.html"Here is the 5 canister nitrous system 3D rendering. The canisters are the type commonly used in whipped cream makers and are readily available. The puncturing devices feature a one way valve to keep back pressure from escaping when there is not a full cylinder in place. A 12 volt solenoid delivers the nitrous through a braided stainless line to the carburetor's air filter. The system is a fogger type, and as the nitrous flows into the carburetor, it pushes past the venturi and picks up the extra fuel for the engine." [discontinuuity, Jan 11 2007] You'd need a LOT of cans. A *small* bottle of nitrous for a car usually holds five pounds of gas. I doubt a whipped cream can holds more than an ounce or two.
Not to mention the problems injecting residual whipped cream into your engine might have. Wasn't there a scene in one of the original "Herbie" films involving pouring irish coffee into Herbie's gas tank?
One the other hand, I can't actually say it's bad science or anything. Just somewhat impractical.-- 5th Earth, Aug 03 2005 I don't think there's much nitrous left in a used-up can. I've tried inhaling the gas left in a whipped-cream can, and never felt any effects from doing so. I was told that a full can, if not shaken and kept vertical, can be used, but that story mentioned an entire carton full of cans and two people--your tax dollars at work, BTW.
I do know that sugar and gasoline engines do not combine well. But this could easily be tried with a full can and a clear tube, and might be good for a laugh. [no vote]-- baconbrain, Aug 03 2005 This idea surfaces every 6 months on turbobricks. It really won't work.-- moPuddin, Aug 04 2005 I dont understand why nitrous oxide would support combustion better than oxygen enriched air.-- bungston, Aug 05 2005 Nitrous oxide injected as a liquid does several things. It cools the intake and combustion chamber as it changes to a gas, causing a dense charge, which equals higher pressure at TDC and thereabouts. It also oxidized violently, so you MUST add more fuel with the nitrous. There are other theoretical changes, but those 2 are the big ones. It works rather violently, tending to melt pistons when too lean, or breaking parts due to the shock near TDC. Turbochargers are better because the push from combustion lasts much longer with lower peak pressures than a high compression or nitrous engine.-- moPuddin, Aug 05 2005 [2 fries] Heh Heh Heh! Possesion of a restricted substance? No way that sticks.-- Zimmy, Aug 05 2005 It looks like someone has done this on a pocket bike. Check out the link.-- discontinuuity, Jan 11 2007 Ummmm, how do I put this delicately......pointless. Even using Whip-its with no cream. like they do in restaurants (the whip cream selter bottle) there's only 8 grams on nitrous. That's not the problem.
You need to get boost the fuel input relative to the nitrous or you suffer a lean condition. With the amount of nitrous you're talking about it isn't practical You'd spend hours or thousands engineering a fuel delivery system. You'd be better off buying a system for a few hundred bucks, and let someone else do the math.
Remember, some of the best ideas of man were called crazy at the time-- Mick Gyver, Sep 10 2007 I stand corrected, with enough time on a small engine it can work!!! My bad.-- Mick Gyver, Sep 10 2007 //I've tried inhaling the gas left in a whipped-cream can, and never felt any effects from doing so//
[baconbrain], I'll have to reappraise my opinion of you. You seemed like such a sensible fellow. You've gone up in my estimations.-- jtp, Sep 10 2007 Um, it says on the can of whipped cream that "deliberately concentrating and inhaling the gases in this canister can cause brain damage". It's probably because of impurities in the gas that is used as a propellant. Anyway, that doesn't sound like a good idea.-- quantum_flux, Oct 14 2007 The nitrous is the propellant. It doesnt react with the cream, which CO2 would.
Nitrous oxide has been used as a surgical anaesthetic for a couple of centuries. I think the brain damage claims are somewhat exaggerated.
You have no idea how long it took to type that out with my mouth stylus though.-- BunsenHoneydew, Oct 14 2007 Inhalation warnings are probably because nitrous oxide can suffocate you. If you breathe too much of it, you won't get enough oxygen, which is obviously bad for you. It's the same reason helium is dangerous. Granted I'm not a doctor.-- 5th Earth, Oct 16 2007 random, halfbakery