Gas duster

Gas duster, also known as canned air or compressed air, is a product used for cleaning or dusting electronic equipment and other sensitive devices that cannot be cleaned using water. The products are most often a can that, when a trigger is pressed, blasts a stream of compressed gas through a nozzle. Despite the name "canned air", the cans actually contain gases that are compressable into liquids. Air on the contrary, cannot be compressed into liquid at any pressure since the critical temperatures of air components (-146.9 C for nitrogen; -118.6 C for oxygen) are much beyond normal handling temperatures. Duster gases are such as 1,1-difluoroethane, 1,1,1-trifluoroethane, or 1,1,1,2 -tetrafluoroethane. Hydrocarbons, like butane, were often used in the past, but their flammable nature forced manufacturers to use fluorocarbons. When inhaled, gas duster fumes may produce psychoactive effects and may be harmful to health.

Since gas dusters are one of the many inhalants that can be easily abused, many manufacturers have added a bittering agent to deter people from inhaling the product. Because of the generic name "canned air", it was mistakenly believed that the can only contains normal air or contains a less harmful substance such as nitrous oxide. However, the gases actually used are denser than air, such as difluoroethane. When inhaled, the gas displaces the oxygen in the lungs and removes carbon dioxide from the blood causing the user to suffer from hypoxia which results in the euphoric feeling abusers desire. This type of inhalant abuse can cause a plethora of negative effects including brain and nerve damage, paralysis, serious injury, or death.

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