What Happens If You Fall Into a Pool of Liquid Nitrogen?

WHAT IF

What could possibly go wrong?

Transcript

00:00 What would happen if you poured liquid nitrogen all over your car?

00:05 Or used it to fight a fire?

00:08 Or even tried to cool down with it on a hot day?

00:13 Liquid nitrogen may look like a lot of fun when you're watching people dump everyday objects into it,

00:19 but it's actually a very dangerous substance.

00:23 And if someone were to dump you in it,

00:26 the fun would quickly come to an end.

00:29 This is WHAT IF,

00:32 and here's what would happen if you fell into a pool of liquid nitrogen.

00:37 Did you know that hundreds of people voluntarily jumped into a pool of liquid nitrogen?

00:42 It's true, it happened at a promotional pool party in 2013.

00:47 By the end of the event, one person was in a coma,

00:50 and eight others had been rushed to the hospital.

00:53 So what is it that makes this substance so dangerous?

00:58 What would you feel as you dove into a pool full of it?

01:02 And would it actually be strong enough to freeze your entire body?

01:07 Before we go jumping into a whole pool of it, let's get to know liquid nitrogen a little better.

01:12 Liquid nitrogen, or LN2 as the cool kids call it,

01:16 is non-flammable, odorless, and colorless.

01:20 And it creates a notorious fog whenever it's exposed to room temperature air.

01:25 It can be used to freeze and transport food products,

01:28 to preserve sperm and eggs,

01:30 and to remove skin abnormalities, among other things.

01:34 Recently, its use has been embraced by the public,

01:37 with chefs and bartenders using it to create fancy ice creams and cocktails.

01:42 With this new fascination with liquid nitrogen,

01:45 and the fact that it's available to the public,

01:47 something terrible was bound to happen.

01:50 And that brings us back to the LN2 pool party that we mentioned before.

01:54 In an effort to create a smoke effect to impress guests,

01:58 a resort in Mexico poured four large cans of liquid nitrogen into the hotel pool.

02:03 It created an impressive fog, but it also did something the organizers didn't know about.

02:09 It displaced the oxygen around the pool.

02:12 And with no oxygen, guests couldn't breathe.

02:16 Luckily though, since it was just four cans of liquid nitrogen that were added slowly,

02:21 it boiled off in the water before it made contact with anyone's skin.

02:25 So how much worse would it have been if the entire pool was filled with pure liquid nitrogen?

02:33 Well, one thing's for sure, you wouldn't want to go for a swim in it.

02:37 You'd be better off just dipping your hand in quickly.

02:40 If you were to quickly submerge your hand in liquid nitrogen,

02:43 it would feel frozen, but there wouldn't be any frostbite or damage

02:47 because of something called the Leidenfrost effect.

02:50 Because liquid nitrogen boils at the very low temperature of -196 °C (320 °F),

02:57 it will beat up and create a layer of vapor underneath it

03:00 when it touches any surface that's at room temperature,

03:03 similar to when you drop water onto a flat, heated surface.

03:07 So if you dipped your hand inside liquid nitrogen,

03:10 a vapor barrier would immediately form that protected your hand from freezing.

03:15 But the protective barrier would only be temporary.

03:19 If you were planning on taking a long swim, you wouldn't be coming back out.

03:23 Instead, you'd get severe frostbite all over your body.

03:27 Then the cold would work its way deeper inside you.

03:31 Muscles, fat, your blood, and every other liquid in your body would be frozen solid.

03:38 If you kept your head above the surface,

03:40 your body would freeze underneath you, and you'd sink right down.

03:44 But hey, on the bright side, there probably wouldn't be much pain involved,

03:47 since the nerve damage would be so severe and occur so quickly.

03:52 As terrible as this would be for a living creature,

03:55 it could actually be beneficial for a dead one.

03:58 Instead of being buried or cremated,

04:00 some people have chosen to have their bodies frozen when they die.

04:04 It's called cryogenic freezing,

04:06 and the idea is you can be frozen and brought back to life at a later date.

04:12 But that's a topic for another WHAT IF.

04:15 [MUSIC]

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