I was curious to know if there would be any benefit of directly adding pure oxygen in the engine. Would the extra oxygen help the engine combust more properly? Would there be a similar effect to nitrous?

 

Similar effect to nitrous, but nitrous is safer because it isn't an oxidizer until the molecules are broken apart.

 

Adding O2 will melt a piston in a heartbeat.

 

Kaboom, where's my intake/engine?



Not the best idea...

 

It would need to be handled like nitrous, adding extra fuel to go along with the higher concentration of oxygen. Other than that no problem to make it work, but more dangerous than nitrous.

 

No way. If O2 was a doable mod it's a lot cheaper than nitrous. Take a lite cigarette and blow some oxygen through and see what happens. There is no room for error at all.

 

Pure Oxygen is a powerful oxidizer. If you put it into the intake manifold, it would have to be coated to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing and the aluminum oxide 'dust' getting sucked into your engine. Ditto for the intake ports on the aluminum head. I'm not sure if you CAN coat the backsides of valves/valve stems, but I would assume so...but you're taking a risk if your coating gets worn off. Any "home depot" style varnish/poly would get eaten by the gas/air/oxygen mixture very quickly. You'd have to look into some kind of ceramic coating as the only durable solution. Even then, any nick/scratch or missed area would quickly allow that exposed area to oxidize.

The other problem is pure oxygen injected into the intake manifold or intake valve port area is that it is very likely to cause a backfire of epic(explosive) proportions. Pure Oxygen allows extreme combustion reactions, and quite simply, isn't safe for "home" or "hobby" use. The "pros" simply do not outweigh the "cons".



Nitrous oxide (often referred to as just "nitrous") is used in place of oxygen. The gas itself is not flammable at a low pressure/temperature, but it delivers more oxygen than atmospheric air by breaking down at elevated temperatures. Nitrous oxide is stored as a compressed liquid; the evaporation and expansion of liquid nitrous oxide in the intake manifold causes a large drop in intake charge temperature, resulting in a denser charge, further allowing more air/fuel mixture to enter the cylinder. Nitrous oxide is sometimes injected into (or prior to) the intake manifold, whereas other systems directly inject right before the intake valves (sometimes called "port injection"). Automotive-grade liquid nitrous oxide differs slightly from medical-grade nitrous oxide. A small amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) is added to prevent substance abuse.

 

Like I said, more dangerous.



Oxygen is (duh) the best oxidizer. In other fields using precisely controlled combustion (rocketry for example) liquid oxygen is often used in combination with a fuel for the propellant.



I'm not saying it should be used, only that it would work. The safety concerns are significant, and astronomical compared to the use of nitrous oxide. It would be extremely unsafe, hence the "No smoking" signs generally present in the homes of people with oxygen masks. Any small fire will burn almost any combustible substance in the presence of pure oxygen.



If the atmosphere were a few percent more oxygen rich the forests of the world would burn completely due to forest fires instead of going out on their own.