Re: Death due to Nitrous Oxide

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

One hazard of doing this demo turns out to be the possibility of having a naive
colleague try it without proper 'preparation'. It seems that he was
so startled by the boiling sensation in his mouth that he SWALLOWED a
small quantity of the liquid!!!!!! He described the resulting gas
pains as being QUITE uncomfortable, but the belch that shortly
followed was most gratifying!!!!

(seems to have done no damage - but I won't mention any names.)

> I do a stunt where I take some liquid nitrogen into my mouth and spew
> it upward in a spectacular fountain. It is not really a "demonstration"
> unless a test of the third property of Nitrogen (colorless, odorless
> and...). I really do it because I *can* do it and because it has the
> proper effect; very few of my students have seen it before. (There are
> lots of other good, less dangerous, Leidenfrost effect demonstrations.)
> I even work this one into my astronomy course when I talk about the
> geysers on Triton.
>
> Of course I go beyond the "Don't try this at home, kids" warning,
> explaining to them some of the bad things that can happen if this is
> not done right, and I don't elaborate with instructions on how to do it
> right!
>
> Leigh

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Chuck Britton                                   Education is what is left when
britton@odie.ncssm.edu                          you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math         you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366  x224                            Albert Einstein,        1936