Why not use something like Nitrogen for cooling??

I was thinking that for a serious o/c'er why couldn't you use the same things that can be used in cars. For example the company called NOS or nytrous oxide systems makes a cooler for drag/street racing that works by cooling off the engine. When released from the bottle it is an extremely cool gas. So what i was thinking is why couldn't this be used kinda like water cooling. Has anyone else thought of this?? Any thoughts??

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just thinkin that cuz i got a bottle of NOS or nitrous for a car in my garage full of nitrous so i thought it might be kinda interesting if used in a computer.

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Nitrous is different from Nitrogen as is nitromethane. Stick hose from nos bottle in ya mouth and breath...hehe..

~OMG IT nearly melted, lucky I had the extra fan *inside* ~

Actually it works mostly by cooling. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is only something like 30% oxygen by volume, so it's not much better than air. But it does several things to promote combustion efficiency. First of all it cools the intake charge, making the air more dense, meaning more fuel can be burned. That's why an additional gasoline jet is added. Second, the Nitrogen helps combate spontaneos detonation, allowing you to use even more N20 with even more fuel without damaging the engine. That said, the majority of engine damage occurs from not supplying an adequate supply of fuel, a lean burn can go right through the top of the pistons.
There are other aspect that contribute additional performance. The main reason it is used instead of compressed air is that it has a better ability to cool the intake charge. The main reason LOX is not used is that it is too dangerous, and too hard to set up.
I probably know more about cars than computers.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

air typically is
79% nitrogen (N2)
20% oxygen (O2)
1% co2, water, pollution etc.
thats for standard outside air of course.

AMD chips run hot. The world is getting hotter. Therefore, AMD is causing Global Warming!

Yea thats what i think. Because i remember when my brother took his 89 Mustang GT to the track w/o nitrous he had to buy ice to cool off the intake between runs. But after he installed nitrous and was using it he didn't have to buy ice anymore. I asked him why he didn't need ice anymore and he said the nitrous kept it cool enough that he didn't need it anymore. Thats kinda where i got to thinking that if nitrous can cool of the intake of a car then why couldn't it be used to cool of a cpu or a video card. Thanks for all of your responses.

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(especialy when you're not home) you have to buy a new cat and call the hazmat team.

Good one!

lol
I totalled a car once...not a fun time. Bad story behind that, but I'm not going to share it here.

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What you're talking about is a simple refrigerator. All thermodyamics here. You take a gas and compress it. The increase in pressure is accompanied by an increase in temperature. The thermal energy is then conducted away through the container into the surroundings and the gas cools to an equilibrium temperature with the surroundings (say, room temperature). You then release the gas, it expands, and is accompanied with a drop in temperature of the gas (ie, cold air comes out).

This is the reason why those little air duster can things that you use to blow out your computer get cold if you hold down the trigger...

To apply this to computer cooling, you'd need a heatsink, some tubing, a compresser and a radiator. Compress the gas, pipe it through the radiator to cool it to room temp, then pump it out and into the heatsink, letting it expand.

I guess you could also do it with an open system, taking in regular air, compressing it, putting it through the radiator, and then letting it expand in some pipes on the way to your global win or whatever...

Lyrics. Wasted time between solos.