nitrogen tetroxide

noun

: a colorless toxic gas N₂O₄ that is a dimer of nitrogen dioxide and that in liquid form is used as an oxidizer in rocket engines

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The leak let nitrogen tetroxide, a combustible component in rocket propellant, seep out enough to ignite a check valve and trigger the explosion. —Hailey Rose Mclaughlin, Discover Magazine, 17 July 2019

Some of the nitrogen tetroxide appears to have permeated through Teflon seals and interacted with moisture on the other side to produce nitric acid, Mr. Vollmer said. —New York Times, 13 Aug. 2021

Evacuations continued for hours as officials tie to determine the threat of the more of the chemical nitrogen tetroxide being released into the air of the rupture of another tank car with the same substance next to the one that imploded. —NOLA.com, 27 Oct. 2020

Yet the majority of China's launch fleet is powered by hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 11 Sep. 2020

These reddish clouds were caused by nitrogen tetroxide, the oxidizer that combusts with hydrazine fuel. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 8 Sep. 2020

Approximately 100 milliseconds prior to ignition of Crew Dragon's eight SuperDraco thrusters, a leaking component allowed about one cup of liquid oxidizer (nitrogen tetroxide, or NTO) into the wrong fuel tank plumbing. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 13 Jan. 2020

According to one source, the orange plumes were the result of between one and two tons of nitrogen tetroxide—the oxidizer used by Dragon's SuperDraco engines—burning at the location. —Eric Berger, Wired, 23 Apr. 2019

The system used helium as a pressurizing gas, inhibited nitrogen tetroxide for an oxidizer, and a blended hydrazine fuel made up of a mixture of around 50 percent unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine and 50 percent anhydrous hydrazine. —Alex Hollings, Popular Mechanics, 24 July 2019

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Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above