REFLECTOR: nitrogen in tires...

[Chuck Jensen]

The difference in leak rate of different gases is insignificant compared to the leak rate of ANY gases through the new inner tubes.  The newer tube material is a vast improvement over tubes from several years ago.  It's not unusual for the new no-leak tubes to hold their pressure for several months.  Spend the money on good tubes, rather than nitrogen. IMO

Chuck Jensen 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On Behalf Of Alex Balic
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:56 AM
To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: nitrogen in tires...



Hi Al,

I agree with you that the O2 molecule is actually bit larger than the N2, but the leak rate through the tire (if that could be counted at all) can be different for different gasses- if you inflate a latex party balloon (very thin membrane I know) with helium, (a significantly smaller molecule than Nitrogen) it will leak out at about 10x the rate of an air inflated balloon-  they will only stay inflated for only about 2 days or so - I know this not an apples to apples example, but it does demonstrate the effect. 

 


  _____  


From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Al Gietzen
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 12:33 AM
To: steve at hord.com; 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: nitrogen in tires...

 

 [1] Nitrogen is denser than Oxygen: This means the larger molecules

escape less easily from tires resulting in a more gradual loss of

pressure over time. According to the Michelin Tire Manual, a tire that

is inflated with Nitrogen loses its pressure 3 times slower than if it

were inflated with air.

 

Clearly this discussion has already gone beyond its merits for our purposes; but for scientific interest we should at least know that oxygen, atomic number 8, is a larger atom than nitrogen, atomic number 7; and the density of oxygen, O2, is 14% greater than nitrogen, N2; when at the same pressure.  Beyond that, the size of the atom - or molecule when two atoms are joined, is irrelevant to the leak rate or loss of pressure in the tire.

 

I could go on . . . but, no; I'll spare you:-)

 

 Al

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