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Taking the Ice Bucket Challenge With Liquid Nitrogen
Nerval's Lobster writes As a trend, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge seems a bit played out—who hasn't yet dumped a bucket of icy water over his or her head for charity? But that didn't stop Canadian chemist Muhammad Qureshi from executing his own sublimely scientific, potentially dangerous variation on the theme: After donating to the ALS Association, he proceeded to douse himself with a bucket of liquid nitrogen. Anyone who's taken a chemistry class, or at least watched the end of Terminator 2, knows that liquid nitrogen can rapidly freeze objects, leaving them brittle and prone to shattering. Pouring it on your skin can cause serious frostbite. So what prevented that bucketful of liquid nitrogen from transforming Qureshi into a popsicle? In two words: Leidenfrost effect. Named after 18th century scientist Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost, the effect is when a liquid comes near a mass that's much warmer than the liquid's boiling point, which (in the words of Princeton's helpful physics explainer) results in an insulating vapor layer that "keeps that liquid from boiling rapidly." In other words, the vapor makes the liquid "float" just above the surface of the object, rather than coming into direct contact with it.
I was educated in the inner city, you insensitive clod. We didn't get any liquid nitrogen at my school because we might make drugs out of it.
Serious. Mr. Schwarzschild ("black shield") only kinda-sorta fits his radius, but Mr. Leidenfrost ("suffering frost") really takes the cake here.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Did you take the chance to reply "I'm not feeling so hot"?
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
Anyone who has worked extensively with the stuff will tell you it is NOT safe unless you are careful.
Gee, and there I was, going to tell those Knoxvillesque folks to try the "Liquid Nitrogen Enema Challenge."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Then we need to encourage the 'family ice bucket challenge'.
Did you take the chance to reply "I'm not feeling so hot"?
Nah, someone else said - "that was cool!"
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Hal Finney -an ALS sufferer- did the ultimate Ice Bucket challenge with liquid nitrogen last week (Aug 28, 2014) when he was cryopreserved after passing away from ALS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...
Yes. This is the one achilles heal in the whole movie, which was otherwise a flawless portrayal of reality.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun