[Schister66]

I'm not going to say anything more than this, if you put NOS in a post, people are going to slaughter your post and tell you that it is nitrous, not NOS....NOS is a company.

Anyway, nitrous is used in the car to boost horsepower by adding more oxygen in the combustion. It also cools the intake air.

Chemistry class now in session

When a fuel burns, each molecule needs an equal amount of opposite molecules to attach to. In this way, if you burn a hydrocarbon fuel like gasoline with air, most if not all of the hydrocarbon chains (gasoline) will break down and pair up w/ an oxygen or nitrogen molecule.(Nitrogen is more common in air than oxygen).

Heres the part you need to understand.

Correct me if i'm wrong here chem guys!
Oxygen and hydrogen will burn the hottest and steadiest in the cylinder and that is the desired combination. In a combustion stroke w/o Nitros, some of the hydrogen molecules will escape unburned because the oxygen paired w/ a carbon molecule. This forms carbon dioxide. The reaction between carbon and oxygen is not very hot however. Oxygen and carbon form carbon dioxide inside every person and animal, and our body temp is only 98.6 degrees F.

The reason for adding N20 not liquid o2 is that basically the nitrogen will pair w/ the carbon forming trace amounts of a basic cyanide. This allows the hydrogen and oxygen to burn together. The two combos that i just listed are the desired ones, but actually all of the molecules just burn w/ whatever is nearby.

The reason for not using O2 is that there is a certain ratio of fuel to air too. It is called the stociometric ratio (14.5 to 1...fuel to air) All you would do w/ solid O2 is effectively lean out the engine. That is also why Nitrous wrecks engines. If too much nitrous is used, the engine will run very lean and will start to knock (pre-ignition). This blows holes in the pistons and breaks ringlands.

Corrections are welcomed if there is a mistake.