Nitromethane was not known to be an explosive until the 1950s, when a whole railroad tanker car of it exploded, leaving a huge crater. Much testing later it was realized that nitromethane was a more energetic high explosive than TNT. Pure nitromethane is a very insensitive explosive, but even so inhibitors may be used to reduce the hazards.

The oxygen content of nitromethane enables it to burn with much less atmospheric oxygen in comparison to hydrocarbons such as gasoline:

4CH3NO2 + 3O2 → 4CO2 + 6H2O + 2N2

14.6 kg of air are required to burn one kg of gasoline, but only 1.7 kg of air for one kg of nitromethane. Since an engine’s cylinder can only contain a limited amount of air on each stroke, 8.7 times more nitromethane than gasoline can be burned in one stroke. However, nitromethane has a lower energy density. Gasoline provides about 42-44 MJ/kg, nitromethane provides only 11.3 MJ/kg. This analysis indicates that nitromethane generates about 2.3 times the power of gasoline when combined with a given amount of oxygen.
Formal Chemical Name (IUPAC)

rc ken erased mylast post without a explanation....
sorry i originaly posted that it is ten times more potent then gas but i should of said 2.3...which when your playing with it at school 0.1
percent would be plenty
and yes a place where i worked had lab guys who thought my nitro rc truck was cool ,until they realized that i was driving a explosive remote controlled bomb around a OSHA contained chemical depot,,,


so whatever ...i wouldnt start up a nitro car with additives around a indoor science fair