Liquid Nitrogen - Ball, Rubber Tube, and Lettuce

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 Code Number :   4A40.30  

Disclaimer:

Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website.

The demonstrations contained and referenced herein are listed for the purposes of cataloging and describing physics demonstrations which should be conducted only under the direction of a trained instructional support professional or physicist. These demonstrations are not presented for the purpose of being conducted by persons unconnected to this Facility and/or persons not consulting with or being supervised by the recognized instructional support professional or physicist and his/her staff. The University is responsible only for those demonstrations carried out using its own equipment using established safety and scheduling policies, and bears no responsibility for those choosing to use this source material for their own purposes. All demonstrations described and contained herein are public domain, and can also be found in reference materials in libraries, bookstores, and electronic sources.

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Condition :   Good  
Principle :   Properties of Liquid Nitrogen  
Area of Study :  Chemistry and Physics   
Equipment :   Liquid Nitrogen, Dewars, Rubber Hose, tennis ball innards. 

Procedure :   Arrange ahead of time to get liquid nitrogen from Biochem stores. Typically it takes about 4 liters for each classroom demonstration. 

Dip the rubber hose into the nitrogen for a time and it will shatter like glass when struck against the lecture bench. 

Freeze the tennis ball innards and when thrown against the floor or wall it will shatter like glass.

Grapes when frozen will bounce much like steel ball bearings.

Lettuce and flowers may also be frozen in liquid nitrogen and when touched they will crumble like potato chips when you crush them.

The temperature of liquid nitrogen should be a -196o C or approximately 77o K.

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  Web Links

"One Cool Dude: 2000 Personal Account."  www.darwinawards.com/personal/personal2000-25.html

Jearl Walker,  "Boiling and the Leidenfrost Effect."  http://www.wiley.com/college/phy/halliday320005/pdf/leidenfrost_essay.pdf

 

   References

Kathy Maline, Tejwant Datta, "Beware the Frozen Squash Ball", TPT, Vol. 32, # 6, Sept. 1994, p. 351.

Floyd Holt and George Amann,  "Cryogenics,"  TPT, Vol. 28, # 5, p. 321, (May 1990).

R. G. Hunt and G. L. Salinger, "Qualitative Demonstrations and Experiments Using Liquid Nitrogen", TPT, Vol.  7, # 5, May 1969, p. 289

 

Hk-7,8:  Freier and Anderson,  A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.

 

H-078:  "Objects in Liquid Nitrogen,"  DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.

 

10:  "Liquid Nitrogen," Chemical Demonstrations, Vol. 2, pp. 20-21.

Jeff Merritt, "Some Ideas for Demonstrations Using Nitrogen," PIRA News, Vol. 10, No 2, November 1995.

Gordon McComb,  Lasers, Ray Guns, & Light Cannons - Projects from the Wizard's Workbench, pp. 28.



Mail Questions and Comments to:  Dale Stille