---
name: NOS
molecule: N2O
compound: "Nitrous Oxide"
era: Modern
origin: England
archetype: Acidhouse
ancestor: Pythia
swag_score: 1
image: "https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/acidhouse_pythia_NOS.webp"
date_added: "2025-01-12"
---

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/acidhouse_pythia_NOS.webp" alt="Nos" width="320" />
</div>


# NOS

## Effects & Properties

**Effects:** Dissociative anaesthetic gas.

**Natural Occurrence:** Nitrous Oxide is an anaesthetic gas best
known for its use in dentistry and as a whipped cream propellant. It is widely available and its
effects are short lasting. Technically it occurs naturally in the environment, produced in small
amounts through microbial processes, such as denitrification and nitrification, primarily in soil,
oceans, and wetlands.
**Appearance:** gas form.

## History

Nitrous oxide was first synthesized by English chemist Joseph Priestley in 1772, and its euphoric effects were famously demonstrated by Humphry Davy at "laughing gas" parties in the late 1790s at the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. It was adopted as the first reliable dental and surgical anesthetic by Horace Wells in 1844. Nitrous oxide became a staple of rave and festival culture from the 1990s onward, sold from "hippie crack" balloons at events, prized for its brief but intense dissociative rush that pairs with electronic music.

## Connections

**Archetype:** [Acidhouse](../../../core-lore/archetypes.md#acidhouse)

**Ancestor:** [Pythia](../../../core-lore/ancestors/pythia.md)

**Tarot Card:** [Ten of Wands](../../../core-lore/tarot-cards/ten-of-wands.md)

**PubChem:** [Nitrous Oxide](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Nitrous-Oxide)

**Paired With:** [Ethylene](ethylene.md)

## Sources

- https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/nitrous/nitrous.shtml
- https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#nitrous-oxide
- https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/nitrous/nitrous_timeline.php
- [Nitrous oxide - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide)
- [Nitrous oxide (medication) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide_(medication))
- [Horace Wells - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Wells)
- [Humphry Davy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphry_Davy)
- [Pneumatic Institution - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_Institution)
- [A Brief History of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Use in Neuropsychiatry (PMC)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6637098/)