Reporters are dumb

[Lazy Meatball]

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James says that's where nitrogen is an improvement over oxygen. It's a thicker compound, meaning it stays inflated longer and deflates slower if punctured by something.

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So do we know if this is true or not?

[djj6835]

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Reporters are stupid because:

1. O is heavier then N

2. Air is composed of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Why are they believing that filling a tire with oxygen is worse then nitrogen? Who would anyone be filling a tire with oxygen? Regular air is mostly nitrogen.


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I don't remember reading anything about the relative weight of nitrogen versus air. The reasoning behind why nitrogen keeps the air pressure in your tires more constant than air is wrong in the article, but it actually is true that nitrogen will keep the pressure more constant. Race car divers use nitrogen to fill their tires.

edit: I guess it has something to do with the changing humidity in the air.

[codewarrior]

Don't forget that Oxygen is explosive, causing more frequent blow-outs.

Also, watching the Oxygen network makes me poop.

[NT!]

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James says that's where nitrogen is an improvement over oxygen. It's a thicker compound, meaning it stays inflated longer and deflates slower if punctured by something.

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So do we know if this is true or not?

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Yeah say you lose all the oxygen over a six month period from normal air (80/20 ratio) but lose nitrogen at a rate that's several times slower. This would make a difference.

NT

[Evan]

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reportedly Nascar and Indy cars use it.

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I'd say this is pretty strong evidence that it at least does something.

[wacki]

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reportedly Nascar and Indy cars use it.

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I'd say this is pretty strong evidence that it at least does something.

[/ QUOTE ]

They use nitrogen because of the lack of water vapor which changes from liquid to gas at temperatures tires will operate at. It's for pressure regulation not leaks.

[codewarrior]

Link to source

(AP) Many motorists seeking to improve their mileage as gas prices soar this summer are examining everything — right down to the air in their tires. For a growing number, plain old air isn't good enough.

George Bourque of Fairfield, Maine, is one of those who's driving around on tires filled with pure nitrogen, the same stuff that NASCAR racers use.

Bourque, an engineer, said he has seen a 1 to 1.5 mile-per-gallon increase since he began filling his tires with nitrogen, which is touted as maintaining tire pressure longer and resisting heat buildup on hot summer days.

"I analyze everything," he said.

Nitrogen has been used for years in the tires of race cars, large commercial trucks, aircraft and even the space shuttle.

But it is finding its way into the mainstream at a growing number of tire dealers — including Costco Wholesale Corp.

Nationwide, fewer than 10 percent of tire dealers offer nitrogen, but the number is growing, said Bob Ulrich, editor of Modern Tire Dealer magazine in Akron, Ohio. Most dealers charge $2 to $5 per tire for the nitrogen fill-up, he said. The dealers generally offer free lifetime refills.

Bourque got his tires — filled with nitrogen — in Waterville, Maine, at Tire Warehouse, which has 50 tire dealerships across New England. The nitrogen was part of an installation package when Bourque bought a set of tires.

Skeptics will question how much can be gained by filling tires with pure nitrogen when the air we breathe is 78 percent nitrogen.

The differences are subtle but important, said Steve McGrath, Tire Warehouse's vice president of marketing in Keene, N.H.

Nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules, so nitrogen seeps out more slowly from tires than air; nitrogen resists heat buildup better than air, which contains moisture; and nitrogen reduces oxidation, which can damage the tire from the inside out, proponents say. Nitrogen is an inert gas, so there are no safety or environmental issues.

Those advantages are important in vehicles equipped with tire pressure monitoring systems, which are sensitive to changes in tire pressure, McGrath said.

With or without nitrogen, proper inflation is the key to improving gas mileage. Motorists can improve gas mileage by 3.3 percent simply by keeping their tires properly inflated, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the real world, though, only 1 in 5 motorists check tire pressure regularly, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association. Nitrogen, therefore, could have an advantage for those who don't check their tire pressure regularly.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no opinion on nitrogen, but it does encourage motorists to keep their tires properly inflated, both for safety and to boost gas mileage, said spokesman Rae Tyson. Severely underinflated tires are dangerous, especially for sport utility vehicles and light trucks, Tyson noted.

Tire experts at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, neither endorse nor object to the use of nitrogen in tires.

"Nitrogen is certainly safe to use in tires, and theoretically it does offer some benefits," spokesman Douglas Love said from Yonkers, N.Y.

For Bourque, his tire pressure remains constant — 40 pounds for his fully loaded truck — even on hot days when tire pressure normally fluctuates.

His gas mileage was about 19 mpg when he purchased his five-cylinder 2005 Chevrolet Colorado. Now, with the engine broken in and new tires filled with nitrogen, he gets 20.5 to 22 mpg depending on whether he runs the air conditioner, he said.

For tire dealers, the nitrogen generator and associated equipment typically runs between $3,000 and $12,000, Ulrich said.

Marty Mailhot, manager of the Tire Warehouse in Topsham, Maine, said the idea is catching on with consumers, who are purchasing nitrogen for tires for cars, trucks, motor homes and lawn tractors. He has even tried it on footballs and inflatable tubes pulled behind boats.

He has a retort for those who pooh-pooh the notion of paying for nitrogen when there's plenty of free air for the taking.

"I say, 'Why are you drinking that bottled water when there's a pond out back?"' he said.


©MMVI, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[esad]

Some research has discovered this claim:

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Remove The Oxygen And Stop The Rot

To stop this decomposition you simply need to remove the oxygen from the ‘air’. (Incidentally, removing oxygen also means that you remove water because water is two parts Hydrogen gas, and one part Oxygen gas.)

Removing Oxygen from products is not new, we do it all the time with our food and drink. In fact, if we did not remove the oxygen our food would not likely last long enough to make it into the hands of the consumers – or it would taste stale and unappealing.

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Ok that makes some sense, but in the same article they say:

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Here are a few other benefits of using Nitrogen in tires:

[1] Nitrogen is denser than Oxygen: This means the larger molecules escape less easily from tires resulting in a more gradual loss of pressure over time. According to the Michelin Tire Manual, a tire that is inflated with Nitrogen loses its pressure 3 times slower than if it were inflated with air.

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Both O and N naturally occur as molecules which are composed of 2 atoms each. The molecular mass of the two are:

O2 = 32
N2 = 28.02

So in the form it occurs naturally, N is less dense then O. Which is not what the claim is.

[TiK]

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reportedly Nascar and Indy cars use it.

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I'd say this is pretty strong evidence that it at least does something.

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Having pure nitrogen makes tire pressure more predictable given temperature differences that tires encounter during driving. Regular air has various gases as well as water vapor, which expand/contract at different rates, leading to less predictability in tire pressure. I would guess that this is a big reason why they would use this in racing.

[MDoranD]

Ok wow...this is just down the street from me. You guys got some questions you want me to ask them? Maybe act like Im interested and tell you what they tell me?