Nitrous oxide inside the cells, by a process catalyzed by the enzyme nitrous oxide reductase. Nitrous oxide has significant global warming potential as a greenhouse gas. On a per-molecule basis, considered over a 100-year-period, nitrous oxide has 298 times the atmospheric heat-trapping ability of carbon dioxide (), however, because of its low concentration (less than 1/1000 of that of ), its contribution to the greenhouse effect is less than one-third that of carbon dioxide, and also less than water vapour and methane. On the other hand, since 38% or more of the entering the atmosphere is the result of human activity, and
Nitrous oxide and inhibit pain signalling. Exactly how causes the release of endogenous opioid peptides remains uncertain. Nitrous oxide is a colourless, non-toxic gas with a faint, sweet odour. Nitrous oxide supports combustion by releasing the dipolar bonded oxygen radical, thus it can relight a glowing splint. The above reaction is the route adopted by the commercial chemical industry to produce azide salts, which are used as detonators. The gas was first synthesised in 1772 by English natural philosopher and chemist Joseph Priestley, who called it "phlogisticated nitrous air" (see phlogiston) or "inflammable nitrous air". Priestley published his discovery in the book