# Usefulness of liquid nitrogen at a party

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 12, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049 "2002-09-12T00:22:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049/21 "2002-09-13T11:47:34Z")

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My Dad must have had a similar physics prof - but he said it was a man with cocktail weenie in his glove’s forefinger. Sprayed gore everywhere.

OK, so my idea was pretty stupid.

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**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049/22 "2002-09-13T16:45:20Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mike.V \*  
> **One of my favorite tricks is one that my chemistry teacher did. After putting one of those superballs into the liquid nitrogen she put on a clear latex glove and reached into the N2 to retreive the ball. She then held the ball on the lab table and attempted to smash it with a hammer, but missed hitting her gloved finger which promptly shattered! After a few seconds of awed silence we began to realize she had slipped a hot dog into one of the fingers and held it in the N2 🙂**

Oh man, that is classic! I have got to get my hands on some LN2 now (no pun intended).

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**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049/23 "2002-09-13T17:05:47Z")

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yes, there are a lot of dangerous things at even a BBQ party. But most drunks know to be careful with the lighter fluid. They aren’t familiar with liquid nitrogen.

But hey, we all lilke amusing entries into the Darwin awards. I say go for it!

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**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049/24 "2002-09-13T20:51:58Z")

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Haha! I once asked my father if you could breathe liquid oxygen. He said it would be fine as long as I didn’t mind freezing my throat and lungs solid.

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**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usefulness-of-liquid-nitrogen-at-a-party/128049/25 "2002-09-13T21:58:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mangetout \*  
> \*\*IANAS, but isn’t it _Kelvin_ without the s ? \*\*

Nope. In the SI system, the kelvin (the base unit for temperature) is a unit like any other unit. Despite being named after a person (Lord Kelvin), it is not capitalized.

i.e.  
one meter (1 m), two meters (2 m), one-hundred meters (100 m)  
one kelvin (1 K), two kelvins (2 K), one-hundred kelvins (100 K)

Cite, and further info:

[http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/kelvin.html](http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/kelvin.html)

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