Nitrogen (N2) is a fairly inert diatomic gas that is colorless, tasteless and odorless under normal conditions. Nitrogen is successfully used both in the food industry and in the chemical industry, as well as in the oil and gas industry. The use of nitrogen in vehicles is now widespread.
The use of nitrogen in cars, or rather in their tires, is due to several factors. Injection of 95% nitrogen into tires, compared to injection into tires of air (78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen), has a number of advantages in cases where the wheels are subjected to heavy environmental loads: sudden changes in air temperature, high vehicle speed, a large number of braking, and acceleration, in case of fire, when transporting heavy loads. Such impacts occur during races, during landing and takeoff of aircraft, driving with a full load of trucks and buses, when driving in mountain conditions along serpentines, using a vehicle in the North or southern desert areas.
Physics as a guarantee of safety
Driving at high speeds, heavy loads, constant braking and acceleration heat up the wheel and tire. And due to its physical properties - the expansion coefficient of nitrogen is five to eight times lower than that of air - nitrogen does not allow the tire to increase in volume when heated, these properties also do not allow the tire pressure to change dramatically when the outside air temperature changes.
Tire pressure affects fuel consumption and vehicle stability on the road.
When a wheel ignites, nitrogen will not ignite, but simply evaporate, which prevents tire explosion, this property is widely used on aircraft. If heavy vehicles hit a sharp object and puncture the wheel, nitrogen will prevent the tire from exploding.
Chemistry as a source of speed
This gas reduces moisture inside the tire, this prevents condensation from forming and prevents it from freezing.
When filling the tire with nitrogen, a nitrogen generator is used, as a result of which dust, oil, and water vapor do not enter the tire. Filling the tire with nitrogen reduces the weight of the wheel, but only slightly, and only gives an advantage in racing events where fractions of a second are taken into account. Also, nitrogen is not an oxidizing agent compared to oxygen in the air, which does not allow the cord inside the tire to rust, but again the influence of the outside air and the environment will damage the wheel faster until nitrogen allows it to do it from the inside.
Thus, the use of nitrogen is advisable on aircraft, trucks and buses, racing cars, and tests of the use of this gas on passenger cars, non-racing cars have not been carried out, and the economic benefit has not been proven.
