Teach me: elementary questions about nitrous

Tl;Dr - what on Earth would the phrase, "...running full nitrous" mean?  Isn't nitrous oxide an oxygen source?  I thought it provided more oxygen so people could use more fuel. Was I wrong?

Long version:

No, I am not installing NOS on the Geo.  No, I'm not installing it on anything. I just had a conversation that made me wonder if I actually understand nitrous systems.  I know that you folks do, so I am asking for clarification.

Sometimes people who find out that I play with cars try to talk to me about car stuff, and they say some strange stuff*.  Today it happened multiple times....enough that I have begun to question how much I know about some stuff.   In one conversation, Person A was talking about their acquaintance who was, "running pure nitrogen." (???) There was no talk about tires or rubber.  I was told about compressed gas tanks in the trunk, etc. so this was probably nitrous oxide.  Is there such a thing as "pure nitrous?". Don't you still need fuel for extra oxygen to burn?

--

* - earlier today, same person:

• ​​​​​​Person A: "...and these guys were using go karts running ALCOHOL!"
• Me:  "nitrometh?"
• Person A: "it was alcohol"
• Me: "ethanol?"
• Person A: "Huh?
• Me: "I'm just trying to figure out what KIND of alcohol it was.  Methanol?"
• Person A: "just alcohol, like in vodka"

​​​​​

Naws!

Yes, you still need fuel. You can learn a lot by going to watch drag races. You can also come home confused beyond belief.

Robbie said:

Naws!

Yes, you still need fuel. You can learn a lot by going to watch drag races. You can also come home confused beyond belief.

Okay then, I am NOT crazy!  I I was beginning to think that  "pure nitrous" meant either that a) I didn't understand what nitrous was being used for, or b) there was some colloquialism or slang that I was missing about a "pure" amount.  

My guess is that this individual knows as little about nitrous as they do about alcohols.  Thank you for confirming my suspicions, and restoring my confidence.

You lost me at “not installing nitrous in geo” :/

Relevant: this Geo Tracker I saw at Friday night drags, with supercharger and NAWZ.

Spray away, my friend

But yes, nothing runs on just nitrous. It just lets you put 10 pounds of E36 M3 in a 5 pound bag. 

I’ll throw a wrench in this as nitrous oxide is available in two basic flavors, nitrous plus and medical grade. Plus is just medical grade with sulfur added to discourage sniffing/huffing. There are some people that believe medical grade is “better” because it’s  “purer” than the plus, which makes “more” power. So you may hear that “pure nitrous” might just be medical grade being used.

I suppose you could power a vehicle with just nitrous, but you'd have to set it up like you would a compressed air motor, in which case using nitrous in that setup would be pointless.

In hotrodding terms, "full nitrous" is a nebulous term that basically means "the most you can run before blowing something up."

But you're correct.  Nitrous oxide has a relatively weak molecular bond.  Under the heat and violence of compression, most of it dissociates allowing free oxygen to be available for combustion.  It is N2O, dinitrogen monoxide, so it is basically 33% oxygen, while normally-ingested atmospheric air is only 21% oxygen.  Nitrous is used because it is predictable and "safe."  Injecting pure oxygen is very difficult to meter since it would be needed in such tiny doses.  It doesn't take much additional oxygen to go from fun to monstrous explosion.

The other main reason is that you can't just transport tanks of O2 in your trunk.  It's a recipe for disaster.  Oxygen itself won't burn, but it makes everything around it a few zillion times more flammable.  Using it in combination with nitrous is a more inert way of storing it.

Full nitrous is like a fully built motor or a full race cam.

It is generally indicative of the speakers lack of knowledge on the subject.

And is a sign to not encourage further discussions on this topic.

bentwrench said:

Full nitrous is like a fully built motor or a full race cam.

It is generally indicative of the speakers lack of knowledge on the subject.

And is a sign to not encourage further discussions on this topic.

This. In reality most random dudes out there don’t have a clue what they’re talking about... but they’ll argue up and down that they’re right cause they “read it on the internet” that’s what their buddy told them and they won’t be told any different... a lot of people aren’t teachable and are afraid to ask questions.. unlike Joeym here , asked a great question and ended up with some really good discussion... sorry I digress

I only know about stage 3, 3/4 pure nitrous, so I can’t help you. 

Ranger50 said:

There are some people that believe medical grade is “better” because it’s  “purer” than the plus, which makes “more” power. So you may hear that “pure nitrous” might just be medical grade being used.

This is plausible. It's also fits nicely with the hypothesis that the person speaking had no idea what they were talking about.

Did they have stage 3 cylinder heads and a 3/4 race cam too?