Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/08/heres-what-happens-when-you-4.html
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They have an interesting relationship dynamic.
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I love how they both have gloves, safety glasses, talk about safety all the time - and then you see the camera guy with no glasses and no gloves stick his lens and face straight over that blender.
facepalm
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That the biggest overreaction to the appearance of fog that I can possibly imagine.
And with the amount of liquid nitrogen that guy had, its the asphyxiation that is the real danger.
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Using liquid nitrogen to reconstitute melted ice cream is silly. You can make your own ice cream by just mixing the ingredients and then stirring in liquid nitrogen. Which could be a lot better than what looks like maybe post-takeover Breyers they had.
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No surprise that it’s his job to explain things, nor that hers is to reply “Oh!” and get over-excited sometimes.
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So the guy is the knowledgeable level-headed half, and she’s the hysterical accessory?
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Nope. You need much much greater volumes for asphyxiation to be an issue.
How big is that room? 12’ across? Assume a cube 12’ on each side, that’s about 49000 L. At 21% O2, that’s around 10300 L O2 in the room.
How much liquid N2 was in that first styrofoam cup? Half a litre? 500 mL liquid nitrogen is about 400 g or about 14.3 moles. When it evaporates and warms up to room temperature, that 500 mL liquid N2 turns into about 350 L N2.
In other words, evaporating everything in cup increases the total gas volume from 49000 L to 49350 L, and the O2 percentage in the room drops from 21% to about 20.85%. Which is nothing. You suffer a greater decrease in O2 partial pressure by climbing a 500 foot hill.
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With liquid nitrogen, those gloves are quite literally worse than useless.
If you small amounts of liquid nitrogen onto your skin, it evapourates before ever touching you, it just creates a cushion of suddenly expanding gas between your skin and the liquid. You can dip your fingers into the liquid for a short moment, nitrogen never touches you. The difference in temperature between you and the liquid is over 230°C; it’s like pouring boiling water onto a frying pan at 330°.
It’s only going to freeze your skin if your skin remains in contact with it – or whatever it’s cooling – for a prolonged period. So while spilling liquid nitrogen on your skin is actually pretty safe, spilling liquid nitrogen on your clothes is a serious danger: the nitrogen cools your clothing to –196°C and your clothes stay pressed against you.
Crappy thin black nitrile gloves, like the ones they are wearing in this video, don’t protect you from liquid nitrogen. They are worse than nothing, because they will trap the nitrogen and freeze and hold it against your skin for long enough to do serious damage. You need big thick multilayer cloth gloves that a small spill can’t penetrate and cool down enough to harm you, and that will buy you enough time to rip off and throw away in a big spill.
Also, those aren’t safety goggles, or even safety glasses. Those are sunglasses. Better than nothing, but not much.
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Basically.
Wouldn’t it be cool for once to have it the other way around?
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This video did nothing except make me sad.
Oh! Yeah, ok, that looks like about 20 L. If you dumped all of that out on the floor all at once, in a sealed room, I could see that being cause for concern. Not an “everybody dies” scenario, but maybe a “we should all leave the room for a while and if you’re not quick about it you might get dizzy and fall over” scenario.
Did he make his own liquid N2 generator or something? Sound like a hassle. It’s not like liquid nitrogen is a rare or precious commodity. My local gas supplier would fill that dewar for maybe $30.
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They’re adorable! Esp. with the lab coats.
They’re like the Regis and Cathy Lee of lost fingers and blown up kitchens.
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Yeah, but what if you’re wrong, and the room is actually 12" on a side?!? That’s a very common mistake, you know!
[singing] Grab your goggles, put your lab coat on - here he comes, Professor Proton!
But yes, their “safety gear” … isn’t.
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