Hello Everyone !
I am Eddie and this blog post is for science online lesson. We must find a harmful compound formed by two or more harmless elements and I have chosen Nitrous Oxide which is formed by nitrogen and oxygen. Please take note that Nitrous Oxide is different from Nitric Oxide which is commonly confused by people.
Firstly, I would give a brief introduction about Nitrous Oxide. Nitrous Oxide is also known as laughing gas or sweet air. It is a colorless non-flammable gas at room temperature with a slightly sweet taste and odor. It is commonly used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic effects. Nitrous Oxide is a major greenhouse gas and air pollutant.
Ok now, I will write about the two elements that make up Nitrous Oxide. They are Nitrogen (N) and Oxygen(O).
For Nitrogen, the atmosphere contains a estimated 78% of it and of course we breathe them in every time we breathe but do not use them. Thus, it is obvious that Nitrogen is harmless to us.
For Oxygen, we need to survive and carry out respiration. It is essential for our survival and thus is harmless to us but instead important to us.
Why is Nitrous oxide harmful ?
Nitrous oxide is harmful to us because firstly, it is a greenhouse gas with tremendous global warming potential. When compared to Carbon Dioxide, it has the ability to capture heat 310 times more. Secondly, Nitrous oxide's pressure curve is usually sensitive to temperature which may form shock explosives. Some common building materials such as stainless steel and aluminium can act as fuels with strong oxidisers such as nitrous oxide to ignite. Thirdly, exposure to nitrous oxide causes short-term decreases in mental performance, audiovisual ability, and manual dexterity. Long term exposure can cause vitamin B12 deficiency, numbness, reproductive side effects, and other problems. With all this reasons that I have listed, I believe you can see that Nitrous oxide is really harmful to us when misused or exposed. For example, if you breath in excessive nitric oxide, it can lead to hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the brain which can lead to death.
How is it formed?
Nitric oxide is formed by oxygen and nitrogen over a covalent bond which is the sharing of electrons over atoms.
This is the dot and cross diagram of the covalent bond of Nitrogen and Oxygen
This diagram is drawn by myself so please correct me if there is any mistakes :)
Sources :
Done by : Eddie (21)
No comments:
Post a Comment