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The Physics Teacher -- March 2010 -- Volume 48, Issue 3, pp. 160
The Answer to Rising Gas Prices…Nitrogen?
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Add to FacebookIt is claimed by the company NitroFill and the GetNitrogen Institute that filling car tires with nitrogen improves gas mileage considerably. The reason given is that oxygen leaks out of tires so that the increased rolling friction causes a reduced gas mileage. Because it is hard to do an actual road test, we report on a simple visual test of leakage from oxygen‐ and nitrogen‐filled balloons. This experiment can be repeated in classrooms to address a controversial and topical issue, while at the same time highlighting hypothesis formulation, verification, and falsification in scientific experiments.
© 2010 American Association of Physics Teachers
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History
Online Feb 2010
ARTICLE DATA
Digital Object Identifier
- www.nitrofill.com/default.aspx.
- Yawcam; www.yawcam.com.
- Atmospheric pressure data at NCDC (National Climatic Data Center) from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration); www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html.
- tirenitrogen.typepad.com/tirenitrogen/files/Clemson_NitrogenFilling_FinalReport.doc.
- blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2007/10/tires-nitrogen-.html.
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