Nitrous Oxide

A colorless, sweet-tasting, oxidizing gas, Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) fulfills a number of beneficial needs, and we are pleased to offer it from PurityPlus^® Specialty Gases by Weldstar.

Nitrous Oxide was initially compounded in 1772 by Joseph Priestly, who dripped nitric acid on iron filings. Though that seems simple enough, a still simpler process for producing larger amounts of N₂O was devised under the auspices of Humphry Davy before the turn of the 18^th century. It essentially introduces cautiously regulated heat to ammonium nitrate, which changes the compound into Nitrous Oxide and water. The bulk of N₂O production makes use of this technique, either directly or by a similar mechanism utilizing urea and a combination of sulfuric and nitric acids.

Nitrous Oxide is employed as an anesthetic, as a leak-detection gas, and as an oxidizing agent. The pharmaceutical and food-and-beverage industries also use it as a propellant in aerosol cans, most commonly in commercial whipped-cream dispensers.

N₂O has further application as a specialty oxidizing flame-support gas in atomic absorption (AA) instrumentation for metal analysis. When mixed with specific perfluorinated hydrocarbons, it is a propellant/oxidizer of considerable utility in a few special-application rocket guidance systems. And, in extremely high purity (99.995+%), Nitrous Oxide is used with some frequency in semiconductor manufacture.

Get in touch with Weldstar Specialty Gases today at 708-627-1007 or contact us online for additional details on the availability and use of PurityPlus^® Nitrous Oxide in Northern Illinois. Need other specialty gases besides N₂O? We’ve got what you’re after.

For further details about PurityPlus^® Nitrous Oxide and its availability, call PurityPlus^® Specialty Gases by Weldstar at 708-627-1007 or contact us online.