Complete layman here, every 6 months or so for the past decade I see an article claiming someone got air-less tires working. What are the chances this would be it ?
You'll also find industrial equipment examples like https://www.sourceproequipment.com.au/crocodile-skid-steer-b...
As the person you're replying to said, though, the problem for passenger cars is NVH. They aren't quiet.
Even with that downside, though, they are still used in consumer-facing applications like some bike sharing programs: https://medium.com/@fredchang/by-now-youve-probably-heard-of...
Where a smoother ride is less significant than unlocking a bike & finding a flat tire.
Don't care about weight, noise, ride quality, just need unbreakable tires because riding through neighborhoods where people break glass bottles on the bike paths will make me smash someone's head with one someday.
You can't really win, the stiffer the tire the better it is at protecting the tube but the rolling resistance is higher and the tire flexes less which makes it less grippy.
[0] https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews/schwal...
https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tires/race-tires/g...
However, in my experience they are really sketchy in wet conditions. I've wiped out or almost did multiple times on gatorskins. Deflating them in wet conditions works but the rolling resistance is then quite high.
I've found that the Schwalbe Marathons in wider sizes (I think I got 38s?) are much more confidence inspiring and comfortable, and makes up for the fact that I have to change a flat twice a year instead of once a year.
I switched to Continental Grand Prix 4 Season and haven't had a flat in 2 years in Portland, OR (though my frequency is down with the pandemic).
https://www.panaracerusa.com/collections/commuter-city/produ...
Might give these Panaracers a try when the tread of the GP are gone (or if I start getting punctures but so far they are as impervious as the Gatorskins for me).
I have never read these two words in the same sentence. I've put thousands upon thousands of miles on my Schwalbe Marathons with nary a flat. Granted, nothing is 100%, but I find Schwalbe's a solid urban/touring choice.
Beet juice is interesting! lol
My guess would be one or more of: the above; greater heat capacity; or, something to do with surface area vs. volume meaning that at a large enough size water in a tire is far lower-pressure and easier to contain than air at a high enough pressure to keep it inflated, and/or, relatedly, something to do with heat dissipation from compressing gasses being really hard to deal with once you hit a certain surface-to-volume ratio.
[EDIT] LOL, guess all these were wrong and it's just for the extra weight.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(1998_film)
that is confusingly similar to The Abyss,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abyss
I always get the two confused.
That isn't strictly true, but in general such equipment spends most of it time moving very slowly it it moves at all. Transports speeds do become a problem, but that is only done for a short time (or you have it on a trailer so you can go faster) so nobody worries about the issue.
...added weight is for better traction. Almost all 2WD tractors will have their back tires filled with a water/radiator fluid mixture (ice doesn't work well if you want to keep the tire on the rim).
IMPORTANT: Never fill any tire to more than 90% full. More solution could damage tire.
Why do you assume this?
Many of the reasons you don't are the same reasons airless tires have not escaped niches.
You don't actually have any reason to assume it will happen other than blind optimism.
"There's no reason to assume this is a solvable problem"
What's "nitro oxygen", then?
That at least helps with some of the logic. However, doesn't directly answer what "nitro oxygen" is. Guessing some sort of slang. It's definitely not a scientific phrase. Nitrogen oxide or something maybe too much for grease monkies so they call it nitro oxygen??? just guessing.
First, permeation decreases with pressure, at different rates for the two gases. If you consider only this fact you will find that the partial pressures of O2 and N2 asymptotically approach homeostasis, rather than simply all the O2 leaving and all the N2 remaining.
Second, permeability changes with temperature, so the ratio of O2 and N2 exfiltration rate changes seasonally, as each gas has a different permeability-vs-temperature curve. Third, the ideal gas law causes pressure changes seasonally which will also decrease exfiltration in winter, and once again, each gas will have its own permeability-vs-pressure curve, so these become very confounding factors.
All in all, the reality of the situation is that filling up your tires with atmospheric air will probably settle on partial pressure ratios of, say, 85/15 rather than 100/0. The deflation that you get comes from only about 5% of the O2 leaving the tire; and of course you get another big deflation when the weather first turns cold.
I don't know the exact numbers because I've frankly never thought to look into this before. So like I said, it was a clever thought! But it needed to be taken a few steps further.