Now, I'm no chemistry major or anything, but from what I learned in my Chemistry class, when I was awake, was that two non metals, such as Nitrogen and Oxygen create a Covalent Bond. And covalent bonds are named with prefixes, such as Carbon Monoxide. Nitrous Oxide sounds like a Ionic bond, and a Ionic bond only happens when one metal, and one non metal bond... Shouldn't NO2 be Nitrogen dioxide?

EDIT

Wait, I'm dumber than I thought, its N2O not NO2 so wouldn't it be Dinitrogen monoxide?

 

I predict the responses that ensue will make you feel even more dumb.

 

its two nitrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule.


or nitrous oxide, but people use nitrous for short.

the term nitrous itself means "Of, derived from, or containing nitrogen, especially in a valence state lower than that in a comparable nitric compound."

 

im either having a moment here or took to many chemistry classes, cause that actually sounds right to me

 

Covalent bonding is an intramolecular form of chemical bonding characterized by the sharing of one or more pairs of electrons between two species, producing a mutual attraction that holds the resultant molecule together. Atoms tend to share electrons in such a way that their outer electron shells are filled. Such bonds are always stronger than the intermolecular hydrogen bond and similar in strength to or stronger than the ionic bond.

Covalent bonding most frequently occurs between atoms with similar electronegativities. For this reason, non-metals tend to engage in covalent bonding more readily since metals have access to metallic bonding, where the easily-removed electrons are more free to roam about. For non-metals, liberating an electron is more difficult, so sharing is the only option when confronted with another species of similar electronegativity.

However, covalent bonding involving metals is particularly important, especially in industrial catalysis and process chemistry. Many polymerization techniques require catalysis involving metal-organic covalent bonds. In their more useful applications, metals often engage in more exotic covalent bonding, such as those between a metal and the σ bond of molecular hydrogen, or between a metal and the π bond of an alkane or alkene.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covalent_bond

 

Nitrous oxide, also known as dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide, is a chemical compound with chemical formula N2O. Under room conditions, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, with a pleasant, slightly-sweet odor. It is commonly known as laughing gas due to the exhilarating effects of inhaling it, and because it can cause spontaneous laughter in some people; it is also known as NOS or nitrous in racing and motorsports, where its usage is widespread. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic and analgesic effects. Nitrous oxide is present in the atmosphere where it acts as a powerful greenhouse gas.

The structure of the nitrous oxide molecule is a linear chain of a nitrogen atom bound to a second nitrogen, which in turn is bound to an oxygen atom. It can be considered a resonance hybrid of

and
Nitrous oxide N2O should not be confused with the other nitrogen oxides such as nitric oxide NO and nitrogen dioxide NO2.

Note that nitrous oxide is isoelectric with carbon dioxide.

Nitrous oxide can be prepared by heating ammonium nitrate in the laboratory.

Nitrous oxide can be used to produce nitrites by mixing it with boiling alkali metals, and to oxidize organic compounds at high temperatures.

The CAS number of nitrous oxide is 10024-97-2 and its UN number is 1070
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide

Hope all that help ya out a bit.

 

So I was right, Nitrous Oxide is slang for Dinitrogen Monoxide..

 

yeah, nitrous oxide basicly means an "an oxide that contains nitrogen" The word "nitrous" can be used as a noun and an adjective describing a compound. We say nitroud refering to the gas. It can also be used as a adjective describing a gas that is "nitrous" containing nitrogen.