Getting laughing gas. What is laughing gas: nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide: the hidden danger

"Laughing gas"- nitrous oxide (nitric oxide). It is a mixture of oxygen and nitric oxide (N2O). Its formula was obtained in 1772-1774 by the English physicist, philosopher and Protestant priest Joseph Priestley (1733-1804).

Nitrous oxide is a colorless gas with a faint odor and a sweetish taste, heavier than air (relative density 1.527). Soluble in water (1:2). At 0°C and a pressure of 30 atmospheres, as well as at ordinary temperature and pressure of 40 atmospheres, it condenses into a colorless liquid. One kilogram of liquid nitrous oxide produces 500 liters of gas. Nitrous oxide does not ignite, but supports combustion. Mixtures with ether, cyclopropane, chloroethyl in certain concentrations are explosive.

Nitrous oxide was called “laughing gas” by the English chemist Humphry Davy, who, while studying the effects of nitrous oxide on himself (1799), discovered excitement in the initial phase, accompanied by laughter and erratic body movements, followed by loss of consciousness.

Small concentrations of nitrous oxide cause a feeling of intoxication and slight drowsiness. When pure gas is inhaled, a narcotic state and asphyxia quickly develop. When mixed with oxygen, when dosed correctly, it causes anesthesia without preliminary stimulation or side effects. Nitrous oxide does not cause respiratory irritation. In the body it remains almost unchanged and does not bind to hemoglobin; is in a dissolved state in plasma. After inhalation ceases, it is excreted (completely after 10-15 minutes) through the respiratory tract unchanged. In medicine, it is used in a mixture with oxygen as a means for inhalation anesthesia during surgery, childbirth, and sometimes during myocardial infarction.

After the introduction of a ban in Russia on June 1, 2012 on the over-the-counter sale of combination drugs containing codeine or its salts, the psychoactive substance nitrous oxide became popular among drug addicts. They use it inhalation, mainly using balloons filled with nitrous oxide.

The substance has been distributed mainly in nightclubs since the summer of 2012. According to the chief narcologist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Evgeniy Bryun, doctors do not yet know what consequences may arise from the use of this substance, and how dependence on it occurs.

Signs of nitrous oxide use:

With short-term use - stupid behavior, unreasonable uncontrollable laughter, dizziness, frequent headaches, frequent fainting and frequent loss of consciousness.

With long-term use, short-term amnesia, emotional instability, disturbance of thought processes, deterioration of hearing and touch, unsteady gait, slurred speech, gradual brain atrophy.

What is laughing gas? What are its properties? In what areas is the substance used? Why are laughing gas balloons so popular? What are the dangers of ingesting the substance? I would like to talk about all this in our publication.

Laughing gas: formula

The substance is called dinitrogen oxide, as well as nitrous oxide. This compound is known as N 2 O. In anesthesiology and narcology, the substance is defined as laughing gas. This is due to the intoxicating effect that the gas has on the human body.

Historical reference

Laughing gas is a substance also known as nitrous oxide. The discovery is the achievement of an American scientist named. Thanks to a chemical reaction, this man obtained a volatile substance heavier than air. The researcher noted that laughing gas is a compound that has a sweetish taste and an indistinct aroma.

During his experiments, Priestley exposed copper to nitric acid. Initially, the scientist was able to isolate nitric oxide (NO). Subsequently, the scientist obtained pure laughing gas, the formula of which is N 2 O.

For a long time, laughing gas was used exclusively for entertainment purposes. So, in 1844, traveling artist Gardner Colton began organizing mass shows. During such events, a volunteer was called on stage. Having inhaled laughing gas, a person began to have fun uncontrollably, dance and jump. One day one of the “test subjects” stumbled and was injured. However, I felt no pain at all. This property was noticed by the dentist Horace Wells. The latter bought a whole cylinder of gas from Colton and began using the substance as an anesthesia when removing teeth from his own patients.

Subsequently, the practice of using the substance for medical purposes was never approved. This is due to Horace Wells's addiction to chloroform, which discredited him as a doctor. The experiences of this man were forgotten for many years. A few decades later, interest in laughing gas was revived by the same Gardner Colton, who began to offer nitrous oxide to dentists for use as an effective anesthesia.

origin of name

Why is the substance called laughing gas? This definition arose thanks to the experiments of the British chemist Humphry Davy. In his youth, this man retrained from a pharmacy worker to a surgical assistant. One day his gums hurt, after which the researcher decided to become a test subject in his own experiment. Davy experienced the effects of nitrous oxide. As soon as he inhaled the substance, the discomfort immediately subsided. Some time passed and the pain returned. The young chemist repeated the experiment. After a slight feeling of intoxication, Humphrey experienced a fit of inexplicable, uncontrollable laughter. The effect was observed within several minutes.

One day, a chemist accidentally broke a flask of nitrous oxide in the laboratory. The employees in the room immediately began to laugh. The fun continued for quite some time. Humphrey finally realized that the reason lay in the specific effect of the substance on the nervous system. It was then that the first record was made in which nitrous oxide was called laughing gas.

Areas of application

Laughing gas is a substance that has been used in the field of anesthesiology for many decades. The substance is used during operations, as well as in dentistry. Laughing gas oxide has become widespread in gynecology.

When combined in optimal proportions with oxygen, the substance has an analgesic effect on the human body and helps eliminate nervous tension. Such properties become useful in the treatment of diseases surgically, in the case of prosthetics or tooth extraction, during labor.

Initially, when doctors did not fully understand that it was laughing gas, the substance was used without connection with oxygen. Patients were asked to inhale the undiluted substance for several minutes, which often led to breath holding and death. Such cases necessitated the development of a special unit that created safe oxide laughing gas and oxygen. Correct use of the substance has shown no harm to well-being. Nitrogen (laughing gas) was quickly removed from the body and allowed the person to return to an adequate perception of things.

These days the substance is freely available. Often sellers do not note that laughing gas is a rather dangerous substance that can only be used in limited doses. Thus, a new direction of substance abuse was formed.

Can laughing gas serve as a substitute for alcohol and tobacco?

There is an opinion that laughing gas is an extremely dangerous substance. To understand whether this is true, it is enough to compare the substance with the same alcohol. For example, drinking laughing gas never gives you a hangover. If you use the substance wisely, there is no addictive effect.

Using laughing gas balloons, many heavy smokers manage to get rid of the craving for tobacco products in a short time. In this case, absolutely no harm is caused to internal organs. Moreover, when the substance is consumed in the right proportions, there is no risk of developing all kinds of diseases.

Some experts argue that laughing gas should not be consumed in combination with alcohol. After all, such behavior is fraught with significant harm to health. Indeed, you shouldn’t inhale the substance when you’re drunk. After all, a person under the influence of alcohol often does not know the limits. In addition, in a state of intoxication, hypoxia is not so acutely felt. Therefore, the risk of overdosing on laughing gas increases.

Effect of laughing gas

How does the substance act on the body? It is immediately worth noting that laughing gas does not form bonds with hemoglobin in the blood. When inhaled, the substance dissolves in the plasma without affecting cells and bodily fluids. As you consume it, you feel slightly intoxicated. Upon completion of the action, the substance is completely eliminated from the body through the respiratory tract. Sobriety of consciousness occurs after 10-15 minutes.

When drinking alcohol, a person will have a tendency to commit rash acts and some aggression. In the case of laughing gas, which is diluted with oxygen in optimal proportions, complete adequacy is maintained. The person only feels some relaxation.

The effect of laughing gas is not only to lift the mood and eliminate the feeling of anxiety. The substance also dulls pain and causes euphoria. However, the use of the substance in unlimited quantities has some negative consequences, which will be discussed later in our material.

Which mixture is considered harmless?

Researchers have found that consuming a mixture containing 80% food-grade nitrous oxide and 20% oxygen has no negative consequences for the body. This proportion is considered the safest. It is the use of such a compound that does not cause asphyxia and poisoning.

Is laughing gas banned?

At the moment, the substance is not a prohibited product and remains on the market. However, toxicologists and experts in the fight against drug addiction note that the distribution of laughing gas must be banned. Nitrous oxide has recently been classified as a psychotropic substance with a strong effect and a health hazard.

Currently, youth aged 16-25 years occupy the lead among segments of the population who have become addicted to laughing gas. Often addiction occurs in people who regularly attend closed parties in clubs where they use laughing gas cylinders. Against this background, mass substance abuse is developing. This poses a threat because it is difficult for young people to refuse the next dose of the substance.

The passions for new types of narcotic substances have not had time to subside. We’ve only just figured out spices, salts and desomorphine when young people begin to “sit down” on a new type of drug, so popular at parties and nightclubs - laughing gas. For now, you can buy it freely on the Internet under the guise of a harmless medicine for the treatment of depression. Young minds do not want to hear about what is actually hidden under this friendly name.

What is N 2 O: origin, history

While this gas is more widespread in large cities and megalopolises, its popularity is growing at an incredible rate. The serious consequences of its use have already been recorded. Laughing gas (N 2 O) was actively used by doctors in the 19th century in dentistry, and in surgery as an anesthesia in the 20th century. But its unsafe effect, in its pure form, was noticed in time.

Therefore, when using it, oxygen was added, but the risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest in the patient under this anesthesia still remained. It was used exclusively under the supervision of anesthesiologists, and during deep anesthesia, also under artificial ventilation. Laughing gas, nitrous oxide, is a greenhouse gas. It is also registered as a food additive E942. The gas also belongs to the category of packaging gases and is used in industry.

There are several types of nitrous oxide:

• Medical
• Food
• Technical

In some countries of the world it is still used in medicine today, but not as widely as before. There are new types of drugs that are much more effective and better than laughing gas.

Impact on the body

As long as the drug is not included in the register of prohibited substances and access to it is open, it is considered absolutely safe by young people. And they flaunt it by the fact that laughing gas is even used in medicine. In fact, N 2 O is considered a very dangerous and toxic substance, especially when used for non-therapeutic purposes. The gas causes an addiction syndrome and long-term consequences can only be assessed after some time, especially if you inhale it systematically. We hope that the availability of laughing gas is a matter of time and nothing more.

The gas is capable of causing short-term hallucinogenic sensations in everyone without exception, putting young people into a trance state. Abuse of it leads to negative consequences, oversaturating the lungs with its components. As the dosage increases, the person loses consciousness, although not for long, after he comes to his senses, he cannot remember what happened to him and around him just a couple of minutes ago.

How does laughing gas addiction occur?

The rate of development of dependence on laughing gas and the degree of addiction depends on the frequency of use, characteristics and basic resource of the body. For most recreational drug addicts, this substance forms a psychological addiction. Subjectively, a person is able to feel some positive emotions from consumption, but in the future he will face serious negative pathologies in his organs.

The addict resorts to new doses because once he was able to experience positive emotions and he has a passion for how he wants to repeat this colorful feeling again and again. If he succeeded in inhaling at least a few times, then he will potentially want it more. At the same time, he does not have a physical dependence, or rather it is not clearly expressed, and there is no withdrawal, but it is very difficult to overcome the psychological craving on one’s own.

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Signs of use

The first signs may be abrasions on the body and bruises. If a person inhales a large amount of nitrous oxide, completely immersed in anesthesia, he simply will not be able to stand still, he will certainly fall to the ground and injure himself.

Barotrauma of the lungs, frostbite of the oral cavity, since some inhale it from a canister where the pressure of the gas mixture is 40 atmospheres, which leads to such consequences. Inhaling nitrous oxide in the first seconds does not give any effect, then, after 30 seconds, a person experiences a deficiency of oxygen in the brain and loses consciousness, in a state of intoxication with alcohol, this is especially dangerous. In case of an overdose of laughing gas, asphyxia can occur - oxygen starvation and death can follow.

The narcotic intoxication from laughing gas lasts approximately 30 minutes; if inhaled again, it can last up to several hours. It is similar in strength to alcohol, including:

• significant improvement in mood;
• slight dizziness and noise;
• a pleasant wave of warmth throughout the body;
• relaxation, laughter, fun;
• carelessness.

It is at these moments that a person experiences hallucinogenic manifestations, mostly pleasant ones. The colors around you become bright, the sounds become clear, the surge of strength goes off scale.

Consequences of use: addiction and impact on the psyche

Noticeable abnormalities in the body occur mainly during the period of nitrous oxide poisoning. They can be accompanied by both hypoxia and anoxia - a lack of oxygen in the brain. This phenomenon “hits”, as a rule, the nervous system. With regular use, hypoxia changes the composition of the blood - the level of erythrocytes and leukocytes begins to fall, hypoxia becomes chronic.

Anemia begins to develop, immunity sharply decreases, infections become permanent “residents” in the body. Abnormalities appear in nerve tissues, since vitamin B12 is washed out of them by nitrogen, metabolism is disrupted, as a result of disorders of nerve sensitivity. The resident can no longer control and manage some functions. Laughing gas destroys the body at the cellular level, but the main point of application is the central nervous system.

Is it possible to quit on your own? Laughing Gas Addiction Treatment

Laughing gas belongs to the group of inhalation drugs. It is psychologically addictive (dependence), but not physically addictive. The formed psychological craving manifests itself in an irresistible desire to take a new dose of this gas mixture in order to get a new portion of the “high”. Substance abusers who have a certain history of fun, withdrawal symptoms can last about 15 days, after which for another 30 days they will feel very bad, depressed and irritable.

What is laughing gas?

In the 18th century, American physicist Joseph Priestley discovered a new substance - nitrous oxide. As a result of the chemical reaction, a substance is heavier than air, which has a faint odor and a sweetish taste. During the experiments, Priestley, acting on copper with dilute nitric acid, for the first time obtained "nitrate air" - nitric oxide NO(3Cu + 8HNO 3 = 3Cu(NO3) 2 + 2NO+ 4H 2 O), and already due to the process of NO reduction under the influence of moistened iron, the result was nitrous oxide N2O(6NO + 2Fe + 3H 2 O = 3N2O+ 2Fe(OH) 3).

Nitrous oxide is used in medicine, the automotive and food industries. Later, the substance was called “laughing gas,” and its specific properties became the reason for the development of another area of ​​substance abuse. Often, street “hucksters” pump nitrous oxide into balloons and sell this anesthetic drug under the guise of innocent colorful decorations for any holiday.

Chemical formula of nitric oxide

(aka Nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, dinitrogen oxide) is a compound with the chemical formula N 2 O. In drug addiction (and sometimes in narcology and anesthesiology) it is called “laughing gas” because of the intoxicating effect it produces. At room temperature it is a colorless, non-flammable gas.

Effects of nitrous oxide use

Now you can buy laughing gas in specialized online stores with home delivery. This makes it possible for drug addicts to receive another portion of a dangerous substance, the consequences of which cannot be called fun:

• disorganization of mental activity;
• blurred vision;
• decreased muscle tone;
• hearing impairment;
• spinal cord dystrophy;
• megaloblastic anemia.

Lethal outcome is possible both with constant long-term exposure to the gas on the human body, and with a one-time overdose. Disorders of brain activity and the functioning of the nervous system cannot be corrected. But despite the irreversible consequences, nitrous oxide addiction among young people occurs, and on a terrifying scale. This is explained by the availability of the substance, the imaginary safety and the range of emotions received: uncontrollable and causeless laughter, relief from depression, neurosis, absence of pain.

Why is gas called fun?

The name “laughing gas” was given to the substance by the English chemist Davy. He tried the effects of nitrogen on himself. Inhaling a small portion caused a feeling of slight intoxication, excitement, and motor activity. Increasing the maximum amount of the substance allowed to be taken led to inexplicable laughter. Further action of the gas causes loss of consciousness and suffocation.

Why is laughing gas called safe? Use of nitrous oxide for anesthesia.

Initially, nitrous oxide was used exclusively in medicine. The substance is widely used in dentistry and gynecology. When properly selected proportions and in combination with oxygen, laughing gas is a good pain reliever and relieves nervous tension. These properties are necessary for the treatment, removal and prosthetics of teeth, as well as during active labor.

Initially, the substance was used without the addition of oxygen. It could only be used for 1-2 minutes, after which anoxia set in, leading to the death of several patients. Fatalities from using undiluted nitrous oxide led to the need to create a special apparatus that mixes the substance with oxygen.

Proper use of nitrous oxide does not cause side effects and does not harm the body. The gas is quickly eliminated naturally, returning the person to normal perception of familiar things. Use in medicine has made nitrous oxide safe according to ordinary people; experts have not fully studied the effect of the substance on the body, so it is freely available. The sale of laughing gas is accompanied by an advertising slogan about its safety, without indicating a “harmless” dose. This became the reason for the development of a new direction of substance abuse. Laughing gas poses a serious danger to humans if taken frequently, so calling it safe is reckless.

Gas for "happy" drug addiction

Most drugs are prohibited for distribution and use. But the drug market is developing so rapidly that the government does not have time to ban new psychotropic products. Laughing gas became attractive to drug addicts in the 19th century in Europe and the United States. It was used at youth private parties for mass entertainment. The substance came to Russia already in the 20th century, when salts and spices became banned.

Laughing gas is sold in small cylinders. The substance is used for inhalation through balloons or sprayed indoors. The effect occurs immediately and disappears within 10-15 minutes.

Signs of addiction

Drug addiction to laughing gas occurs after several doses. The substance has a psychotropic effect, and an attraction to the substance occurs. As addiction develops, a drug addict exhibits the following symptoms (similar to signs of substance abuse):

• dizziness;
• frequent causeless headaches;
• fear, insomnia;
• loss of consciousness;
• uncontrollable laughter.

With prolonged use of laughing gas, the addict’s condition worsens, and other signs of damage to the nervous system and brain appear:

• deterioration of vision and hearing (up to complete deafness);
• loss of memory, attention;
• emotional instability, nervousness;
• slurred speech.

It becomes difficult for a substance abuser to do familiar things; he cannot answer basic questions. Damage to brain cells leads to suffocation of well-being and fainting. There are clear signs of intoxication on the face: gray skin, dull eyes, bad breath and body odor.

At first, the addiction is hidden from family and friends. But with prolonged use of the substance, the disease becomes visible; addicts can gather in groups or sniff the gas alone. The depression that arises at this time causes hallucinations, due to which the substance abuser leaves home.

Addiction can also be determined by the main symptoms of drug addiction: secrecy, depression, poor health, nervousness, lack of money.

A moment of humor:

Nitrous oxide: the hidden danger

The above consequences of dependence on laughing gas are the main ones. But it is worth mentioning another danger that awaits a substance abuser from the central nervous system when a persistent addiction is formed.

1. The body experiences an acute lack of oxygen, hypoxia occurs. This leads to hallucinations, and the perception of flowers and sounds changes. The world around us becomes different, less realistic, and persecution mania arises.
2. The composition of the blood changes. The level of leukocytes drops, which leads to chronic hypoxia. Anemia occurs and the body's immune functions decrease. The drug addict becomes susceptible to infectious diseases. The diseases are protracted and have serious complications.
3. The nervous system is affected. Inflammatory diseases are chronic. Sexual activity decreases, sensitivity to pain increases.

Often young people become participants in so-called mass substance abuse. In closed clubs, laughing gas is sprayed into the air, which is the main feature of the party. This poses a threat of developing addiction, because it will be difficult to refuse the second helping.

Experts believe that laughing gas should be banned for sale throughout the country. Nitrous oxide is a strong narcotic substance with psychotropic effects and a proven danger to health and life. In the meantime, while it is on free sale, the number of substance abusers will rapidly increase, with young people aged 16 to 25 taking the lead.