Nitrous oxide << NY truhs OK syd >> is a colorless, odorless gas that physicians and dentists use to make patients insensitive to pain. Such drugs are called anesthetics. Nitrous oxide is commonly called laughing gas because people sometimes become excited and silly after they inhale it. Nitrous oxide causes unconsciousness if enough of it is inhaled.
Nitrous oxide is pleasant to inhale and it takes effect quickly. It also wears off rapidly and is nonflammable. Doctors always give oxygen with nitrous oxide because the body needs a certain amount of oxygen that the gas does not supply.
Nitrous oxide only works as an anesthetic at high concentrations. However, at lower concentrations, it can relieve pain without producing true anesthesia and loss of consciousness. Doctors sometimes administer such subanesthetic doses to women during childbirth and to patients undergoing dental treatment. However, the greatest use of nitrous oxide is as a supplement to more powerful anesthetics during major surgery.
Nitrous oxide was first prepared in 1772 by Joseph Priestley, a British chemist. In 1844, Horace Wells, a Hartford, Connecticut, dentist, was the first to actually use nitrous oxide. He inhaled the gas himself before having a tooth extracted, and the tooth was pulled painlessly. Nitrous oxide anesthesia became widely used in dentistry during the 1860’s.
Nitrous oxide is also called nitrogen monoxide or dinitrogen monoxide. It is used in industry as a propellant in aerosol products and as a “tracer gas” to locate leaks in vacuum and pressure lines.
