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
Gas chromatography who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in developing liquid–liquid (1941) and paper (1944) chromatography, laid the foundation for the development of gas chromatography and he later produced liquid-gas chromatography (1950). A gas chromatograph is a chemical analysis instrument for separating chemicals in a complex sample. A gas chromatograph uses a flow-through narrow tube known as the "column", through which different chemical constituents of a sample pass in a gas stream (carrier gas, "mobile phase") at different rates depending on their various chemical and physical properties and their interaction with a specific column filling, called the "stationary phase".