Originally Posted by
jimmuller
Something I read in Bicycling yesterday while waiting in a dentist office. CO2 dissolves into butyl, it claimed. So if you fill your tires with a CO2 cartridge you may have to top them off again even before your ride is over. To which I reply Really? I had never heard such a thing, but then I have always used a pump. N2 and O2 do not do that (it said), and since they make up most of the atmosphere, if you use a pump you won't have that problem. That's what it said.
Is this news to only me?
Edit: See the conversation I had with [MENTION=456494]prat[/MENTION]hman in post
#36 this thread. I apparently have a mistake in what I said, the CO2 molecule is not polarized, and I have no clue why the CO2 behaves differently from N2 and O2.
What follows is the original paragraph I wrote. end edit.
No. It's news to me that CO2 actually isn't contained by butyl rubber, but it's not surprising that it is different from N2 or O2. The CO2 molecule has two oxygen atoms at roughly a 120 degree angle apart from each other, relative to the carbon atom. Hence it is polarized due to it's shape. N2 and O2 each have only two atoms of the same species, so they are not polarized anywhere so strongly. The polarization has to do with some kind of difference in how the protons and neutrons are distributed in the CO2. It's not uniform in any event and hence the molecule has what's called a dipole moment. This parameter affects mild chemistry issues like solubility and strong chemistry issues (in some materials) like what it will react with, at least for most molecules. CO2 is rather stable and hard to create a chemical reaction, in any event.
Somebody stop me! Who'd a thunk my college chem would have any use in bikie chatter????
Yes, I'm surprised at what the CO2 does, but not surprised it behaves differently from nitrogen and oxygen.
Did you find out what your dentist rides (the important stuff!)?