• Question: Do you know what would happen if you poured liquid nitrogen on your skin?

    Asked by Slytherin Queen to Jo on 15 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Jo Collins

      Jo Collins answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Great question. You might expect that you would get cryogenic burns (frostbite). In fact because liquid nitrogen is so cold and your skin is so warm, as soon as the nitrogen gets close to your skin the heat from your skin evaporates it, so you actually get a gas layer between your skin and the liquid. Heat (or in this case cold) doesn’t transfer that well through a gas so your skin is protected for a few seconds.
      However your skin will start to cool down so you wouldn’t want to pour it on you for more than a few seconds

Comments