• Question: why does liquid nitrogen hurt? Is it because its so cold? and why does it burn?

    Asked by daxfoxy to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by dekhanxxx.
    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      It hurts because it gives you cold burns because it is so cold and if you spill a lot on yourself it can freeze a part of you – giving you frost bite!

      If you ever get chance to use it put a banana in liquid nitrogen then tap in on the bench and see what happens – what happens is very similar as to what would happen to you if you were immersed.

      That said if you spill a small amount of you the heat from your skin means some will evaporate and the gas acts to insulate you temporarily – so you can survive a splash jsut not immersion.

      It is however very dangerous because it is so cold so you shouldn’t splash it on yourself as you might be unlucky

    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      yes, it is really really cold. It boils (turns from liquid to gas) at about -200 degrees. Boiling doesn’t mean getting it hot, it means turning from liquid to gas.

      It hurts because your skin and flesh can’t stand that kind of cold.

    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Yup, it’s so cold it damages your cells. You only have a few types of sensing nerves so when you touch lN2 it excites all of them and feels like burning even though it’s not. Your ‘heat’ nerves are stimulated by the cell damage.

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