Liquid nitrogen in a drink?
- Thread starter TrUz
- Start date
The whole story makes me LOL.
Utter rubbish start to finish.
There is NO WAY you could accidentally drink liquid nitrogen. If you tried to drink liquid nitrogen it'd be immediately obvious in your mouth / throat!
Liquid nitrogen boils instantly in contract with your skin.
And i speak from experience working with the stuff! I did numerous experiments using it during my post grad research at university. As stated nitrogen gas is also harmless.
What HAS happened is they used liquid nitogen to cool something else down too much. They then did not let it warm up enough. This she drank and it damaged her stomach. The damage was due to the temperature. Its a bit like drinking boiling water and blaming the kettle!
Pseudo science rubbish!
I dont think that is the case, is -25c give or take enough to cause this sort of damage? As thats roughly what say 40% vodka would solidify at, so would be lower anyway maybe -20c tops, and at that would be like syrup in consistancy.
Strictly speaking oxygen is toxic though it causes blindness and also toxicity at higher pressures as already posted, likewise water can also be very toxic. But you'd know this because you are a biology expert.
I imagine the life-threatening nature of the surgery dictated the surgeon's course of action.
Liquid nitrogen boils in air at atmospheric pressure at around -190C!
So if it was still liquid it'd have to be below that!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
I have "experimented" in quiet moments in the lab with freezing vodka in liquid nitrogen. It turns solid and forms little tiny balls if you pour vodka into liquid nitrogren. When consumed these boil on your tongue like popping candy!
Anyway back to the story. I am no biologist. I have no idea what temperature materials begin to damage your stomach. The thing is cold liquids damaged the poor girls stomach. My point is it was NOT liquid nitrogen itself. The Liquid nitrogen would have boiled off beforehand. What damaged the girl was a super chilled drink. Liquid nitrogen was the cooling agent, not some bizarre poison!
Soldato
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Bars use liquid nitrogen to chill glasses and ingredients primarily for the smoking effect. Isn't it possible that liquid nitrogen could have remained in the cocktail (without boiling beforehand)?Liquid nitrogen boils in air at atmospheric pressure at around -190C!
So if it was still liquid it'd have to be below that!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
I have "experimented" in quiet moments in the lab with freezing vodka in liquid nitrogen. It turns solid and forms little tiny balls if you pour vodka into liquid nitrogren. When consumed these boil on your tongue like popping candy!
Anyway back to the story. I am no biologist. I have no idea what temperature materials begin to damage your stomach. The thing is cold liquids damaged the poor girls stomach. My point is it was NOT liquid nitrogen itself. The Liquid nitrogen would have boiled off beforehand. What damaged the girl was a super chilled drink. Liquid nitrogen was the cooling agent, not some bizarre poison!
Potatoes are toxic until cooked but don't have cooking instrctions.
Rubharb is toxic until cooked.
Apricot/peach seeds are toxic.
Los of things are dangerous until cooked or until correctly prepared but are sold perfectly legally.
Millios of people around the world have consumed LN cocktails with no ill effect.
It must be that she consumed nitrogen, an alcohol based drink just isnt cold enough, looking at the average temperature of a home freezer -18c and colder, i have a bottle of snow grouse and vodka at these temperatures and drink that no problem, so unless she swollowed a solid glass of alcohol at much lower temp it only leaves the nitrogen.
If that is the case thn she probably only has herself to blame in this case!
The LN will be able to cool the alcohol and mixers olower temperatures than a home freezer. Nitrogen itself s an insert harmless gas.
Strictly speaking oxygen is toxic though it causes blindness and also toxicity at higher pressures as already posted, likewise water can also be very toxic. But you'd know this because you are a biology expert.
Water in overdoses yes, never knew about the oxygen + toxicity stuff, that wouldnt really be covered in biology.
I wish you would.
Anyway back to the story. I am no biologist. I have no idea what temperature materials begin to damage your stomach. The thing is cold liquids damaged the poor girls stomach. My point is it was NOT liquid nitrogen itself. The Liquid nitrogen would have boiled off beforehand. What damaged the girl was a super chilled drink. Liquid nitrogen was the cooling agent, not some bizarre poison!
not true at all - it IS possible to swallow liquid nitrogen before it boils as many people have done it. It is the expansion of the gas that causes the damage - the cold would do very little as the body would warm it up pretty quickly.
so waht they probably did is pour liquid nitrogen into a cocktail - ooo thats cool - but put too much in - there was either liq nitrogen floating on top or on the bottom and when she downed it the whole thing went in her stomach and expanded like crazy.
as one mole (28g) expands to 22.6 litres you wouldn't need much to explode a stomach.
no doubt there will be a ban on these types of drinks because its crazy, reckless, and potentially business destroying to give someone a drink that is only safe after SOMETHING YOU ADDED evaporates - you wouldn't have to be a fancy pants lawyer to take any bar to the cleaners who injured someone via this drink.
I have drunk cocktails with liquid nitrogen, I have also drunk many drinks that arrived on fire, as long as the drink is made correct the shouldn't be a danger. Its the same as people go blind from counterfeit Vodka, you trust that the drink your being given is safe to consume.
There would never be a single solid lump to drink / swallow!
Its just a strong alchoholic mix that stayed like a viscous liquid, but was sadly cold enough to damage the lining / chemistry of her stomach.LN is much colder than your home fridge. However it maybe that only a relatively small amount colder than your home fridge is enough to harm your stomach. So a vodka mix cooled to say -50C harmed the girl. That temp could have been present long after all the liquid nitrogen has boiled off. LN present means -190C. I glass will still smoke AFTER the LN has all boiled off.
The bar-person that made the cocktail probably just put too much liquid nitrogen in it which killed a massive amount of her stomach tissue. I'm sure a tiny amount is fine.
It's a bit like alcohol, you don't go drinking pure alcohol from a chemistry lab, but as a small part of a fermented/distilled drink it's safe enough.
It's a bit like alcohol, you don't go drinking pure alcohol from a chemistry lab, but as a small part of a fermented/distilled drink it's safe enough.