How-To Geek
Liquid Nitrogen + 1500 Ping Pong Balls [Video]
In this wish-we-were-there hands on science demonstration, Dr. Roy Lowry combines liquid nitrogen, hot water, and 1500 ping pong balls into a spectacular lesson.
[via Neatorama]
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Comments (10)
Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek. When he's not documenting mods and hacks he's doing his best to make sure a generation of college students graduate knowing they should put their pants on one leg at a time and go on to greatness, just like Bruce Dickinson. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 09/25/12
…a spectacular lesson in finding & picking up 1500 ping pong balls.
–could have done fine without the first 3:30 min
Great. Dry ice would be easier to get a hold of to replicate it :)
I don’t think dry ice would have the same effect. It takes longer to evaporate and I don’t believe it would expand at a fast enough rate to cause that kind of reaction. He used liquid nitrogen, dry ice is carbon dioxide.
IMO it’s not speed of the reaction but the bottle been torn apart in one moment by the pressure what makes the explosion.
Therefore the question is if the bottle full of solid CO2 would be enough when evaporating, or if the bottle is strong enough to hold it in semi-vaporated state. That depends on outside water temperature as well.
A call for dry ice remake!! :-)
Awesome video. Too bad it was taken down by the University. A similar demonstration was done on The Ellen DeGeneres Show though, and is still currently on YouTube. http://youtu.be/Jh5Y8Gb-kFU
Wow, removed from youtube…
http://www.wimp.com/scientistnitrogen/
Found it on YouTube again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfiR1Rde7dI
Used to do this all the time as a kid with dry ice. You fill the bottle about 2/3 with water, then add as much dry ice as you can fit. Ridiculously loud. Same principle as the “smoke” on Halloween.
@Delebre: Thanks for the link. Strange they removed it from YouTube but it’s still available on Wimp…