Nitrous oxide

Safety

The major safety hazards of nitrous oxide come from the fact that it is a compressed liquified gas, and a dissociative anaesthetic.

Related Topics:
Dissociative - Anaesthetic

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While normally inert in storage and fairly safe to handle, nitrous oxide can decompose energetically and potentially detonate if initiated under the wrong circumstances. Liquid nitrous oxide acts a good solvent for many organic compounds; liquid mixtures can form somewhat sensitive explosives. Contamination with fuels has been implicated in a handful of rocketry accidents, where small quantities of nitrous / fuel mixtures detonated, triggering the explosive decomposition of residual nitrous oxide in plumbing.

Related Topics:
Decompose - Detonate - Organic compounds

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