Nitrous oxide can be damaging or fatal if abused. The most common problem is method of use. If obtained from a whippet, nitrous comes out very cold, and people have injured themselves by putting the cracker in their mouth or so what. Be careful with pressurised tanks - unregulated pressure can damage your lungs. Never put on a mask of nitrous - people have died when they've lost consciousness and suffocated on the mask. The nitrous oxide used in a medical situation is mixed with oxygen and therefore safe. Never use the nitrous oxide available for race cars - it's mixed with other chemicals such as sulfur gas that will seriously damage your lungs. Nitrous oxide is not widely thought of as a physically addictive drug, but some cases of physical dependence have been reported. If used repeatedly, nitrous oxide will attack nerves in your extremities . Vitamin B12 supplements apparently ward off damage. Heavy nitrous use (300-400 times a week for several months) has sent people to the hospital without sensation in their limbs.
An odourless gas : good analgesic, poor anaesthetic properties; can cause wild euphoria. Is used a lot with patients who are dental phobics. Known as relative analgesia (RA).
Discovered in nineteenth century USA, and used an intoxicant in "ether revels" ie parties. (The anaesthetic properties of ether were also discovered about the same time.)
Patients "on gas" feel less anxious, and are less bothered by what goes on around them. They feel light and floatly, or they can feel heavy and sleepy. I usually stop increasing the percentage of N20 to O2 when they fell tingles in their fingers and toes. Maximum is 70:30 (n2o:o2).
Despite being a good analgesic, local anaesthetic is still necessary in most dental procedures.
The prerequisite to using gas is that 1. the patient must be cooperative (will fail with severe dental phobics and uncooperative kids) and 2. must not have a blocked nose.
The fundamental makeup of Nitrous Oxide being two parts nitrogen and one part oxygen lends itself to creating what can be massive amounts of power in combustion engines from lawnmowers to top fuel drag engines.
Oxygen is released from the nitrogen mix when it is heated turning it from a liquid into a gas. Mixing equal amounts of fuel into an already running engine causes a massive amount of additonal horsepower to be output from the engine. Several manufactures exist today that provide both kit and developed systems that can literally bolt onto your engine and at the flick of a switch add from 50 to 250 horsepower to an engine.
Performance applications range from the lower end horsepower systems known as plates that bolt under the carburetor with single or dual jets to high end systems that use nozzles which vaporize the mixture down each port in the engines cylinder head. Almost all systems utilize solonoids of some type to control the flow of nitrous from the storage tank, usually a 10 pound container which is placed in the trunk of the automobile and fed with braided stainless steel tubing.
Top racers will often elect to use a nitrous system to add horsepower in stages. These are called multi-stage systems. This is to help eliminate un-wanted wheelspin by adding too much power to the wheels from the start. These systems are controlled typically by a computerized controller today but some systems were controlled via relays that were engaged in a specific gear and RPM.
Additional performance can be realized by building your engine using specialized coatings on the piston domes and building your engine with an initially low compression ratio so the extra increase in horsepower provides the power without damaging the engine components.
A lungful of the gas produces about thirty seconds of auditory hallucinations (likened to quickly covering and uncovering one's ears), communion with the cosmic yin-yang, and possible minor brain damage. Studies of addicted dentists and emergency room walk-ins document that larger quantities and long-term use can cause paralysis and dementia; everyday risks include frost-bite (from the release of the pressurized gas) and asphyxiation.
Recreational use usually involves the aforementioned Whip-Its used for dispensing whipped cream and sold in many grocery stores. Other devices include crackers--metal or plastic devices sold in head shops and specifically made for releasing the Whip-It into a balloon--and charging bottles similar to the CO2 type used for seltzer mentioned by moscow above.
First, remember that nitrous is not oxygen. Oxygen keeps you alive; nitrous doesn't. So don't fill a garbage bag with pure nitrous and tape it over your head. Don't open a tank wide up in an enclosed space. And if you want to reduce suffocation risks altogether, hyperventilate first. This also allows you to hold it in longer, which will get you higher.
Second, remember your Pressure/Volume/Temperature ratio from physics class. Remember that as pressure decreases and volume increases, temperature drops rapidly. Put the near-freezing gas in an intermediate container (like a balloon) before inhaling it. Don't use a plastic bag, use a balloon! It's much, much harder to suffocate yourself with an object that doesn't fit over your head.
Third, remember that you basically lose consciousness when on nitrous. When you pass out, be somewhere that this won't be detrimental, like a couch or a chair or laying on the floor. Balconies and tightropes are a bad idea. Standing might not be so bright, either.
Finally, like any substance (even food, air, and water), overconsumption has side effects. With nitrous, extended high dosages results in the depletion of vitamin b12. Over time, this depletion can result in damage to bone marrow, along with a host of other maladies. The few cases where people wound up in the hospital due to b12 depletion involved using dozens of bulbs per day for months at a time.
Follow these guidelines, and don't do anything stupid, and you won't get hurt.
As a side note to Ćlien: I'm not going to tell you that your cousin didn't die, though making up such a lie seems to be a standard last resort of anyone deathly opposed to drugs. I will tell you that there must be more to the story than simply "he took a hit and suffocated." Either he had a bag over his head, or he had a medical condition that caused his heart to stop. Otherwise, when he passed out, he would have resumed breathing. You can't die from holding your breath.
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