Liquid nitrogen in a drink?

[norm]

The counterintuitive thing is that you can safely put your hand inside a tub of liquid nitrogen.

I still can't figure out how the liquid nitrogen managed to stay liquid in the cocktail and in her mouth and down her throat. It just doesn't make sense, unless it was encapsulated by something colder than -190 degrees... which can't be the case.

http://www.randombio.com/info/nitrogen.html

Swallowing liquid nitrogen

Yes, there are people who do tricks with liquid nitrogen. One low-temperature physicist makes a toast with liquid nitrogen. It is dangerous - don't do it.

The danger of toasting with liquid nitrogen is the possibility that you might swallow a bit by accident. If this were to happen, then the valve at the top of your stomach might close, trapping some liquid nitrogen inside you. Then some very bad things would happen:
The liquid nitrogen would be held in contact with your tissues for long enough to cause damage, possibly freezing your epiglottis or destroying the valve at the top of your stomach or some other part of your mouth, throat or stomach.
Second, the rapidly boiling liquid would generate a huge amount of vapor inside you. You might not explode, but it would be extremely unpleasant.

If she necked the cocktail even a relatively small amount of LN would be enough to cause damage.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

http://www.randombio.com/info/nitrogen.html

If she necked the cocktail even a relatively small amount of LN would be enough to cause damage.

If liquid nitrogen was poured into a cocktail, it would instantly (and all of it) boil... or so I think, but looks like I am wrong. Trying to figure out how this didn't happen and how nitrogen in its liquid form managed to get all the way to her stomach.

 

[Xordium]

/snip

I agree to an extent its just there are more than a few articles coming out now highlighted things that we would only expect to find after such a length of time. I agree it is not as harmful as some stuff but I don't like the way people flippantly dismiss things as being harm free only for a few years down the line when we have had the time to absorb the real damage that is being done to suddenly say they were wrong. All these things have consequences and therefore when there is no need to take them you should not. Especially when the drug you mentioned has an significant effect change with alcohol which is kind of what you would expect it to be taken with.

 

[norm]

If liquid nitrogen was poured into a cocktail, it would instantly (and all of it) boil... or so I think, but looks like I am wrong. Trying to figure out how this didn't happen and how nitrogen in its liquid form managed to get all the way to her stomach.

Depends how much LN they poured into the drink wouldn't it.

I found another instance of somebody swallowing LN here - http://www.wpi.edu/News/Wire/Jan99/nitrogen.html

 

[Meridian]

I still can't figure out how the liquid nitrogen managed to stay liquid in the cocktail and in her mouth and down her throat. It just doesn't make sense, unless it was encapsulated by something colder than -190 degrees... which can't be the case.

The same thing which stops LN from freezing your fingers when you pour it over your hand (it's a very bad conductor) means that it would get a fair way down the throat before evaporating, if you downed it in a oner. She was actually lucky: there have been cases (IIRC) of the stuff boiling in the throat and bursting the esophagus. That would usually be fatal.

 

[aardvark]

The counterintuitive thing is that you can safely put your hand inside a tub of liquid nitrogen.

I still can't figure out how the liquid nitrogen managed to stay liquid in the cocktail and in her mouth and down her throat. It just doesn't make sense, unless it was encapsulated by something colder than -190 degrees... which can't be the case.

if it floated on a frozen top only the bottom would boil away relatively slowly, so i can see how it could have happened.