Bob wriets:
When we discontinued a water cooled computer system we "blew the hoses" with nitrogen. It is very dry. When you buy tires from Costco they are filled with nitrogen, again because t is very dry.
another reason for use in tyres is . the molecule stays inside the rubber tire because of it's size (just as helium escapes almost everything because of IT'S size) and It is non-reactive to the rubber. CO2 is used in small cylinders for bicycles for convenience, but it attacks the rubber and causes it to decompose quite quickly. It's a sign of a 'better' tire place that they use nitrogen - some cheap places here use CO2 and the results might benefit their bottom line but the customer ends up paying later. all gasses are dry when shipped, it's why humidifiers are used a lot like in hospitals where oxygen is bubbled through water before being delivered to patients.
but yes, dryness could be advantageous to may things, though some require a certain degree of humidity. In certain archiving processes 'humidity buffers' are employed to maintain specific water gas concentrations. (for example leather is severely damaged if allowed to dry out. Generally oils are used to maintain flexibility but water is actually needed as well at around 55% humidity) I dont think albumen photo materials would fare well in low or zero humidity environments and I believe nitrocellulose films begin to decompose rapidly at lower than 35% humidity.
k
