Nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or nitrous, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, with a slight metallic scent and taste. At elevated temperatures, nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidizer similar to molecular oxygen. It is soluble in water. Nitrous oxide has significant medical uses, especially in surgery and dentistry, for its anaesthetic and pain reducing effects. Its name "laughing gas", coined by Humphry Davy, is due to the euphoric effects upon inhaling it, a property that has led to its recreational
Laughing kookaburra precedence. In the 19th century this species was commonly called the "laughing jackass", a name first recorded (as Laughing Jack-Ass) in "An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales" by David Collins which was published in 1798. In 1858 the ornithologist John Gould used "great brown kingfisher", a name that had been coined by John Latham in 1782. Another popular name was "laughing kingfisher". The name in several Australian indigenous languages were listed by European authors including "Go-gan-ne-gine" by Collins in 1798, "Cuck'anda" by René Lesson in 1828 and "Gogera" or "Gogobera" by George Bennett in 1834. In