Date:         Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:57:32 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
Subject:      Re: Tire question: Sorry, but ...
Comments: To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <AANLkTinuNNokA4CEwZoQ5Pat=pf98-Nz+n6iKX97u5X4@mail.gmail.c om>
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At 01:52 AM 8/30/2010, Don Hanson wrote...
>minimize heat-generated pressure increase.  As a tire comes up to
>racing
>temp with atmosphere inflated inside, they can gain up to 7psi but
>with
>nitrogen, they will only gain a few lbs....So when you filled the
>tires with
>nitrogen, you could start a race with almost the correct pressures,
>rather
>than running a lap or so underinflated while the temperature caused
>the
>pressure to increase.

BS. Air is 78% nitrogen to begin with. All gasses follow Gay-Lussac's
Law extremely closely, unless at temperature extremes (think absolute
zero and plasma heat). There are 2 legitimate reasons to use N2 in
tires - the military uses it in some aircraft to eliminate a fire
hazard from the oxygen in air, and race teams use it because a bottle
is cheap, and can be used to fill tires without needing either a
compressor or electricity (or they believe the BS the N2 salesman told
them). A third reason to use N2 is so tire stores can make additional
profit.