Liquid Hydrogen Experiment Creates Huge Harmless Explosion

"Science After Dark: Wizards, Muggles and Science was an event hosted by the Museum of Discovery. During these monthly events, museum staff members conduct educational, science experiments for the attendees' entertainment. The video shows the final experiment of combining liquid Nitrogen with hot water to create a reaction. The resulting explosion was of surprising magnitude, blowing off the safety masks of both demonstrators, damaging tubing from another exhibit near the ceiling, and a portion of the inner barrel was hurled upwards landing on the railing near the ceiling. Nearby audience members were sprinkled with condensation from the experiment. No one was injured. The staff conducting the experiment looked very surprised by the magnitude of the reaction." - explains the man behind the camera.

When you pour water into liquid nitrogen (the hotter, the better) it doesn’t only create clouds of fun but the reaction is so powerful that it creates an explosion. As far as science experiments go, the one with mixing nitrogen in hot water is the most spectacular. It obviously gives you a very reliable "eruption" with a big plume of mist blasted upward, a dense cloud, and a very satisfying explosion noise. When you pour the liquid nitrogen into water, you get a big burst of mist, frantic boiling (the liquid nitrogen, not the water), and a wash of fog pouring from the water container. For some it’s fun but for others it’s terrifying.

However, you have to be very careful when you are handling cyrogenic materials such as dry ice and liquid nitrogen and it is a must to follow good laboratory procedures, and use good, thick gloves. If you're not careful, you can get very nasty, and sometimes dangerous, frostbite. Sometimes “clouds” are needed as a special effect as this creates a dramatic effect for a dream sequence, a spooky scene, or someone flying. While it looks really cool, liquid nitrogen gets really cool at about -320℉ (-196℃). This effect takes training and uses equipment not usually laying around a home so leave it to the experts (but enjoy this video).

At the special event in the Museum of Discovery in this video, the lead demonstrator asks the audience to count from five backwards and they are so excited to follow suit, but do they expect to witness the outcome of the experiment? We doubt that. As the two demonstrators dump buckets of hot water into the specially constructed nitrogen container, a huge cloud erupted, shooting as high as the ceiling, oaking the front row of people looking on at the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. It wasn’t just the audience who is taken by surprise – the museum’s educators are too. Even if the experiment didn’t go quite to plan, nobody at the museum was hurt. Since the vapor is just water and nitrogen, it’s safe to breathe, too. Notice that after its initial upward rush, the vapor falls because it’s much colder than the air around it. Because there’s so much of it, the cloud quickly spreads in all directions over the ground, too.