• Nitrogen

Gas

Uses:

• As a modified atmosphere, pure or mixed with carbon dioxide, to nitrogenate and preserve the freshness of packaged or bulk foods
• In incandescent light bulbsas an inexpensive alternative to argon
• In fire suppression systems for Information technology (IT) equipment
• In the manufacture of stainless steel
• In the case-hardeningof steel by nitriding
• In some aircraft fuel systems to reduce fire hazard
• To inflate race car and aircraft tires, reducing the problems caused by moisture and oxygenin natural air

Liquid

Uses:

• Main use of liquid nitrogen is as a refrigerant
• Cryopreservationof blood, reproductive cells (sperm and egg), and other biological samples and materials
• In the clinical setting in cryotherapyto remove cysts and warts on the skin
• In cold trapsfor certain laboratory equipment and to cool infrared detectors or X-ray detectors
• Used to cool central processing unitsand other devices in computers that are overclocked, and that produce more heat than during normal operation 
• Include freeze-grinding and machining materials that are soft or rubbery at room temperature, shrink-fitting and assembling engineering components, and more generally to attain very low temperatures whenever necessary (around −200 °C).

• Oxygen

Ethylene is reacted with O₂ to create ethylene oxide, which, in turn, is converted into ethylene glycol; the primary feeder material used to manufacture a host of products, including antifreeze and polyester polymers (the precursors of many plastics and fabrics).

Commercially produced oxygen is used in medical applications, metal cutting and welding, as an oxidizer in rocket fuel, and in water treatment.

• Argon

Preservative: Argon is used to displace oxygen- and moisture-containing air in packaging material to extend the shelf-lives of the contents (argon has the European food additive code E938). In winemaking, argon is used in a variety of activities to provide a barrier against oxygen at the liquid surface, which can spoil wine by fueling both microbial metabolism (as with acetic acid bacteria) and standard redox chemistry. Argon is sometimes used as the propellant in aerosol cans for such products as varnish, polyurethane, and paint, and to displace air when preparing a container for storage after opening.

Laboratory equipment: Argon may be used as the carrier gas in gas chromatography and in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry; it is the gas of choice for the plasma used in ICP spectroscopy. Argon is preferred for the sputter coating of specimens for scanning electron microscopy. Argon gas is also commonly used for sputter deposition of thin films as in microelectronics and for wafer cleaning in microfabrication.

Medical use: Cryosurgery procedures such as cryoablation use liquid argon to destroy tissue such as cancer cells. It is used in a procedure called "argon-enhanced coagulation", a form of argon plasma beam electrosurgery. The procedure carries a risk of producing gas embolism and has resulted in the death of at least one patient.

Lighting: Incandescent lights are filled with argon, to preserve the filaments at high temperature from oxidation. It is used for the specific way it ionizes and emits light, such as in plasma globes and calorimetry in experimental particle physics. Gas-discharge lamps filled with pure argon provide lilac/violet light; with argon and some mercury, blue light.