not you...mark seemed to think that nitromethane was the same as nitrous oxide...

nitrous oxide is an excellerent of sorts, used in conjunction with a fuel such as gasoline, methanol, or diesel fuel...nitromethane is a fuel on its own, which actually contains some of the properties of nitrous oxide. what nitrous oxide does, is that it introduces oxygen at an increased rate, and the oxygen portion of the compound is released from the nitrogen portion by the heat during combustion.

our atmosphere is predominantly nitrogen, basically with some oxygen and some other things mixed in...oxygen is the portion of the "air" that combustion engines want, so ideally, you want to inject pure oxygen, but in its pure form, oxygen is very unstable and very explosive. so, the two nitrogen atoms bond to the one oxygen atom, and you have a mixture of 66% nitrogen and 33% oxygen, which is more stable than pure oxygen. the atmosphere is roughly 21% oxygen and 79% oxygen, so the nitrous oxide provides the engine with increased levels of oxygen, and the i believe that the nitrogen is simply expelled in the exhaust. The nitrous enters the combustion chamber, and the hear seperates the oxygen and that now released oxygen "fattens up" the air side of the air to fuel mixture...hospital air has a higher level of oxygen than normal air, plus with the oxygen lines and tanks around a hospital, that is why youre not allowed to smoke in hospitals.

im NO chemist, so if we have people here who can provide a more accurate description of what exactly is happen, feel free to correct me on any incorrect points...