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Originally Posted by CapriRacer
Well, I was hoping for a link to some test data.
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Unfortunately the gas contributes probably less then 1% to the rolling resistance. So we will probably never see a paper with conclusive results.
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It just doesn't make sense to me that different gases would behave differently as a pressurizing medium. I could see it if the difference was between a gas an a liquid - or there were different forms of gases, like a plasma. I'm just not buying that a tire would behave differently just because it is inflated with a different gas.
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Well according to the ideal gas law and the ball example they would slightly. Any bumps encountered with a non ideal gas will have the tire rubber flex slightly more thus dissipating more energy as heat. From a link I found to a pdf today they state that most (about ~95% ) tire rolling resistance losses come from tread flex. So lessening this will reduce the losses.
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I did do a quick look up and found that Nitrogen has a thermal conductivity 50% greater than Argon, which is why Argon would be used as an insulator in double paned windows - and maybe why F1 teams would use it in tires (to try to retain the heat in tires on a cold day - or conversely, to prevent the pressure build up due to brake heat).
So maybe it would help RR by retaining the heat, but I am really struggling with this being a significant factor.
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From my under standing F1 race cars have no problems keeping tires warm when at race speeds (once they reach temp). In fact they have problems keeping them cool enough to avoid blistering and excessive wear. I can see adding nitrogen to keep the tires from over heating.
I wouldn't be surprised if they add a little neon to try to keep the tires cooler (as it conducts heat twice as good as air). In fact neon is lighter than air and might be a better choice than argon. Unfortunately it is far more expensive than helium or argon.