I'm far from being a scientist of any sort, but I found this
discussion thru a google search:
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=120996&page=1
It's a lengthy exchange of questions, answers and arguments, but one
fella there who claims to be a chemist goes into some pretty detailed
explanation about the benefits (or lack thereof) of using N2 as a
substitute for compressed air when filling tires. His opinion seems
to be that the major benefit to be derived is the lack of water vapor
in the nitrogen and (I'm implying here) the fact that compressed air
would vary in its water vapor content, resulting in a different
coefficient of expansion.
A point is also made that also made that it's easier (for race teams)
to carry around a high pressure nitrogen bottle than to try to
generate compressed and consistently dried air.
I dunno, YMMV.
Ray the Rat
At 01:17 PM 5/10/2007, drmayf wrote:
>What a cool old race car. When looking at the web site, something
>caught my eye and that was the N2 filled tires because with N2 they
>don't expand to change to odometer reading. That seems odd to me
>since our atmosphere is about 79% N2 anyway. The other major
>constituent is O2 and both are about the same atomic weight and have
>simialr thermodynamic properties. Is there one among us who can
>explain this to me? Now I understand the use of DRY gas to fill
>since water vapor can and does expand, but just gas?
>
>Here waiting for parts.....
>
>mayf
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