The Truth About Nitrogen And Saving Gas By Scott Siegel Nitrogen as an alternative to air when filling tires seems to be gaining some popularity. The fact that Costco and other retailers are now offering nitrogen fills certainly points to nitrogen filled tires as becoming more mainstream. At almost $10 per tire does it really save fuel like it is claimed to do? Here are some answers.
Let's start with a basic principle. Inhale...., now let it out. The breath you just took was 78% nitrogen. Of course you could tell that when you took that breath, couldn't you. That is the biggest problem with the assertion that nitrogen is better than air. 78% of the air is already nitrogen!
The basic claim made by nitrogen supporters is that nitrogen will permeate through the tire slower than oxygen because it is a larger molecule. By slowing the pressure loss of the tire, nitrogen will allow your tires to maintain the proper pressure longer.
This contention is just not supported by the laws of physics. The rate of diffusion of a gas through a porous substance depends on the mass and the size of the molecules of that gas. Oxygen and nitrogen are almost the same size and in fact nitrogen is lighter than oxygen. That means that if either is going to permeate through the tire the nitrogen would actually permeate faster than the oxygen.
Consider this little bit of common logic. If oxygen did indeed permeate through a tire at a faster rate than nitrogen, then as the tire lost pressure mostly nitrogen would then be left in the tire. Let's assume at this point there is 90% nitrogen left in the tire.
You then go to the station and top your tires off with air to bring them back to the proper pressure. Now you have almost all nitrogen in the tire that you added a small amount of air to. At that point you would have much less oxygen in the tire than you did when you first inflated
it.
Continuing this scenario, as it is claimed, the oxygen continues to dissipate from the tire and the nitrogen remains behind. Now you have an even higher amount of nitrogen in your tire. Maybe 95%. As you repeat this process again and again your tire would eventually end up being full of only nitrogen.
The question is, if eventually you would end up with nitrogen filled tires by just repeatedly filling them with air, why would you fill them with nitrogen to begin with and spend the more money? It just doesn't make sense.
This is just a plain logical example as to how false the nitrogen claims are. There of course are a myriad of specific scientific answers showing why the nitrogen claims are based on myths and not scientific facts. Each one would require a separate article in itself to explain. In the end it seems you are seeing the single law of behavior that seems to play itself over and over.
Once again there are those who are taking advantage of a situation to make a buck. Who finds an advantage to filling tires up with nitrogen? Those selling the equipment and those retailing the nitrogen. They earn more profits. Who gets the short end of the stick? That' right, it's the consumer.
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