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
Trivial name German for "wolf's foam", how the mineral was known to Saxon miners. The name "tungsten" means "heavy stone", a description of scheelite, another mineral in which tungsten is found. The German names for hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are "Wasserstoff" (water substance), "Sauerstoff" (acid substance), and "Stickstoff" (smothering substance). Russian names for hydrogen, oxygen and carbon are "vodorod", "kislorod" and "uglerod" (generating water, acid and coal respectively). The corresponding Chinese names are "qīngqì" (light gas), "yǎngqì" (nourishing gas), and "dànqì" (diluting gas). A scheme for translating chemical names into Chinese was developed by John Fryer and Xu Shou in 1871. Where