[sub]This is not a thread about how to do illegal drugs.[/sub]
So I’m curious… I can buy whippits for about $13.95 for two dozen at a head shop down the road. But for an ultra-long-lasting N[sub]2[/sub]O high, one must go to the dentist. Or must one?
So, can yer average Joe, assuming he has the money, just waltz into a dental supply company and buy a tank of of N[sub]2[/sub]O?
[Standard Disclaimer]Not that I’m actually going to do this or anything. Just curious.[/Standard Disclaimer]
Sure!
Just say its for your car.
from any legality, N20 that is used for an engine performance application is not suitable for your purpose. It has chemicals added to discourage inhalation.
The gear head people caught on to this long ago, apparently. heh
NO NO NO NO NO!
Automotive hippy-crack has an additive (I think it is something like sulfur dioxide or something like that, one part per jillion) to discourage just such an activity. Don’t know if it will kill you or not, but it will give your lungs and head a run for their money you won’t like.
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Rhythmdvl
[Edited by bibliophage on 08-31-2001 at 06:59 PM]
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[Edited by bibliophage on 08-31-2001 at 06:58 PM]
Actually, this is a specific instance of an otherwise general case of question I always wondered.
That exactly can a person buy as far as compressed gas cylinders go? Is this state regulated? I have often wondered about having hydrogen tanks, oxygen tanks, the afore mentioned NO2, ammonia tanks…
DISCOURAGE?!? Someone gave me a hit off a tank of automotive nitrous, in mere seconds, I went unconcscious, stopped breathing and my GF had to give me mouth to mouth recusitation for 15 minutes before I started breathing on my own. And I was quite experienced when it came to nitrous consumption. I suspect it was doped with carbon monoxide.
DO NOT consume automotive nitrous. It can kill you.
An “experienced nitrous user”? Is that anything like an experienced glue-sniffer?
Anyway, speaking as an experienced automotive nitrous user, gearhead nitrous is indeed doped with a few parts per million sulfur dioxide, to give it a nasty smell. (Supposedly it’ll give you a mongo headache, too.)
They do that so that us gearheads can buy it at a welding-gas supplier or speed shop without having to have a prescription or handle a bunch of paperwork.
Chas- That’ll larn ya! 
Chances are you were using an automotive tank? If so, keep in mind they usually have siphon or “dip” tubes, to bring liquid directly to the valve. Crack the valve on a tank like that even for a fraction of a second and you’ll get a dense, supercooled cloud that was probably a far larger “hit” than you’d planned. Can we say asphyxiation?
Do me a favor everybody, lay off snorting the car stuff, huh? I don’t want to have to get a note from a doctor every race weekend, eh?
As for other gasses, any welding supply shop will be happy to rent or sell you various size tanks of acetylene, industrial oxygen, (not for breathing) argon, helium, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
Depending on the substance and the tank size, they may have you fill out a rental agreement, and some places will restrict sales to those who have a need- fab shop employees, service station guys, etc.
There are a great deal of rules involved with compressed gas tanks- most condos, apartments or rentals will restrict 'em on the property, tanks have to be stored properly, and no shop will let you carry a tankful of anything home in the trunk of a car. (Gotta be in an open pickup- no SUVs, vans, suburbans, etc.)
I thought they cut NO2 for automotive due to injecting pure giggle gas into engines caused more than a few to blow their heads completely. I know you can still do it with the usual stuff but you have to shoot a shit load into it now vs a smaller amount of pure Nos.
Did I just hear this wrong?
I used to work in an anaesthesiology lab, the stuff was like water to us lab rats. Yes, that’ll larn me. I totally gave it up after this incident. Probably a good thing anyway because chronic nitrous use will give you nervous system damage. This incident must have been 20 years ago, I think they doped it with different stuff than they do today.
Yes, people have blown up- figuratively, not literally- engines with poorly-installed nitrous injection systems.
Okay, real quick like: Nitrous Oxide is not a fuel. It’s not explosive, it’s not flammable under normal conditions.
What it is, is a dense source of oxygen that can be chemically seperated from the nitrogen, under high temperatures and pressures.
Meaning that if you simply inject some into your engine, the air/fuel mixture will get very, very lean. Combustion temperatures skyrocket, the engine begins to detonate severely (“ping”, or erratic combustion) and other Bad Things.
To get the power and keep the engine healthy, you must also inject additional fuel to keep the mixture stoichiometric. (“Correct.” )
That is where the power comes from- the additional fuel. The nitrous merely supplies the oxygen needed to burn that fuel.
I got NO2 at the dentist once & wasn’t impressed. It didn’t make me dizzy, light headded, care-free, giddy, or anything. What it did was add $30 to my bill.
Well doesn’t that just piss you off. Here I was wanting to hook up an NOS system in my Jeep. With one line going to the engine and another to a drop down mask over the drivers seat.
Man, am I pissed.
Hmmf.
It’s a shame, er I mean I’m glad to hear they started doping automotive nitrous. It has to be a bit over a decade since I had cause to misappropriate gearhead gas, but back then the stuff was quite fun, er I mean susceptible to abuse. At least around here. 
Discourage? Um, Yeah. I bet you don’t try it again.
I just meant that “discourage” was the understatement of the year.
Interestingly enough, many years ago a cousin of mine and her friends stole a cannister of “Laughing Gas” from a dentist, opened it in their car, and all died.
A car guy I know insists that Nitrous Oxide from the dentists will not work in your car. BTW he also scolds people he say nos as in Nostradomus(spelling), he pronounces it N O S(saying each letter).
This thread makes me more than a little uneasy. The three largest states, and many others as well, all have laws against the recreational use of nitrous oxide. In most states, as far as I can tell, dental nitrous oxide is a regulated drug that cannot be dispensed without a perscription. And for goot reason: the nitrous oxide itself, even without additives, can cause heart failure, brain damage, and death.
I think it best if this thread be closed.
bibliophage
moderator, GQ