What is liquid air used for?

Liquid air is used commercially for freezing other substances and especially as an intermediate step in the production of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon and the other inert gases. As the temperature of liquid air rises, the nitrogen evaporates first at −195.8°C, the argon next at −185.7°C, and the oxygen last at −183°C.

Can a car run on liquid nitrogen?

Traditional nitrogen engine designs work by heating the liquid nitrogen in a heat exchanger, extracting heat from the ambient air and using the resulting pressurized gas to operate a piston or rotary motor. Vehicles propelled by liquid nitrogen have been demonstrated, but are not used commercially.

How do liquid nitrogen engines work?

“Instead of using air to cool water, it uses air to boil liquid nitrogen into nitrogen gas.” The conversion from liquid to gas expands the volume of the nitrogen 700 times, building sufficient pressure to turn an air motor much like pressure from burning gasoline drives an internal combustion engine.

Can cars run on oxygen?

The engine can burn no more gas than the amount of oxygen allows. Any extra fuel would come out of the exhaust pipe unburned. So if the car used pure oxygen, it would be inhaling 100 percent oxygen instead of 21 percent oxygen, or about five times more oxygen.

Is liquid air flammable?

No, liquid air is not flammable. A flame requires an oxidant and something that can be oxidised. Liquid oxygen is a (very strong!) oxidant but neither nitrogen or argon are easily oxidised.

Can liquid nitrogen be used as rocket fuel?

When liquid nitrogen and heated water are mixed in a chamber, pressure increase due to evaporation expansion inside the chamber becomes high enough to generate thrust force for rocket propulsion. This thrust system is safer and environment-friendly compared to conventional rocket engines utilizing combustion process.

Can pure oxygen be used as fuel?

Oxy-fuel combustion is the process of burning a fuel using pure oxygen, or a mixture of oxygen and recirculated flue gas, instead of air. Since the nitrogen component of air is not heated, fuel consumption is reduced, and higher flame temperatures are possible.

Who makes a hydrogen powered car?

At the time of writing, there are only two mainstream hydrogen-powered cars on sale: the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo. There are more hydrogen-powered cars and vans confirmed to be on the way, though, with brands such as BMW, Land Rover and Vauxhall all planning new models within the next five years.

How explosive is liquid oxygen?

A mixture of lampblack and liquid oxygen was measured to have a detonation velocity of 3,000 m/s, and 4 to 12% more explosive power than dynamite. The long duration of the flame it produced, however, made it unsafe for use in the presence of explosive gases.