Solid Nitrogen

[Boredclub2ndgen]

Fuck WMG

[Max404s]

I came to see this video after reading that they used a heatsink made from solid nitrogen on the Hubble space telescope.

[Annokou]

so, it only occurs in a pressurized environment? as in it's not naturally occuring?

damn, I would've loved to have a solid nitrogen ball fight; where getting hit means imminent frostbite... lol...

[arktouross]

@Annokou DEpressurized - a vacuum. And by the way, a little while back I did get solid nitrogen at room temperature and touched it quickly. I imagine I could have grabbed a hunk of it and thrown it at someone...

[VELOCITYangus]

this video/experiment is awesome!! i wish i was there to see it ;D

[doktorcivanim1]

where can I find a phase diagram for nitrogen? Do you have? I need it very urgent

[Janshevik]

yeah, I find difficulties to find nitrogen phase diagram on internet too :S

[doktorcivanim1]

@Janshevik so where can i find or can you send me?

[RoflcoptersForLife]

so how cold would it need to be to make solid nitrogen at room pressure?

[pratt123]

@RoflcoptersForLife Close to absolute zero. Within 10 K probably. However, it gets harder to drop temperature as you approach absolute zero. The difficulty quickly rises to infinite.

[MrBYUcougs]

Haha, Nick! I'm in one of the sections that you TA for for physical sci 100. I'm in your 4:00wed class. This is much cooler than the one that you showed us today. How long was the container that you had the Liquid NItrogen in?

[jiltist]

It'd be interesting to look at what kind of crystals form here. Is there any way of taking pictures of structures in a vacuum?

[LcDT27]

WOW first time seeing nitrogen is solid phase!!!

How do they make liquid Nitrogen? what kind of cooling system they use?

[vmelkon]

I've seen it in books before but it is the first time I see it in a video. I've also seen it at the tripple point in a book. I've also seen a still photo of liquid neon (clear liquid).

[Chi7es]

Make some killer snow cones.

[cordsdi]

What would happen if you touch it? How would the pressure inside the vacumn change if you open it?

[arktouross]

With this particular setup it would be difficult to touch solid nitrogen because of the vacuum. Although it is possible (although I've never heard of it being done) to make solid nitrogen at atmospheric pressure in which case you could touch it. I imagine it wouldn't be a whole lot different than touching dry ice (frozen CO2), but of course would cause burns much faster.

You can see the pressure changing inside the vacuum when I vent it towards the end of the video. That's what it looks like!

[cordsdi]

Chemistry is awesome isn´t it? I mean, I may not be great at doing calculations but I personally love it. I also think that we can even create a lifestyle on chemistry, carefully looking at how molecules, atoms, and subparticles behave. Looking for equilibrium, and efficiency.

[arktouross]

Chemistry is alright, but this is physics! Physics rocks! :D

[shidoink]

@arktouross physics and chemistry really are parralel studies, and the only difference is your intrest.

[bonken96]

Do you have any idea what this would do at lower temperature and pressure? I have been looking for a good phase diagram for N2 that would be valid to say 10-6 torr and 20 Kelvin. Do you know of such a reference? From what I see here, seems like it would remain solid. Cool video!

[arktouross]

At lower temperatures and pressures it would remain solid - not a whole lot would happen. As the pressure gets lower, it becomes more and more difficult to pump on and therefore the temperature falls slower and slower. So to reach 10e-6 Torr would require quite a hefty vacuum pump.

[33200]

@bonken96 20 Kelvin the nitrogen would stay solid but would probably expand even more due to the decrease in pressure, but you could argue that it would last longer when vaccum is vented.

[coollord300]

@bonken96 20 kelvin holy crap thats like colder than the surface of pluto

[liquidoxygen0]

I cannot believe what I am seeing. I'm speechless! Confirm this for me - is this really what Solid Nitrogen looks like when cooled down past -210°C?

[arktouross]

Yup, you're seeing the real thing.

[bmwsux4]

Pressures form sold nitrogen diamond structure?

Do you mean from the exrteme pressures found in a supernova?

[arktouross]

I don't know what the pressures in a supernova are like, but diamond-structured nitrogen forms at about 1.1 million atmospheres and 3100 degrees Fahrenheit. (1 atmosphere is the pressure at sea level.) So very hot and very high pressures!

[bmwsux4]

Thats cool.

I was thinking that is possibly the only thing in nature that has those pressures.

[bmwsux4]

I thought when you placed something in a vaccuum you made it boil easier/ faster ?

[arktouross]

Yup, you're correct. It is the boiling that is cooling the liquid down. Molecules with higher energies (i.e. hotter) will boil off (phase change to vapor) and carry heat away with them. This leaves the bath colder than it was. So basically, by accelerating the boiling process, we cool the liquid. Bam! Physics = Magic.

[bmwsux4]

Finally an answer. It sucks that craptoob removed the audio on your video that they dont even bother to investigate.

I wonder if you can make helium solid? although I think that is just the reverse of nitrogen requireing extreme pressure.

[arktouross]

You're right, solid helium has to be extremely cold and extremely high pressure. Interestingly enough, solid nitrogen forms a diamond-like lattice structure at very high pressures.

[numbrnineteen]

OK, now get it to 0 K. Don't let the 3rd law prevent you from trying.

[Xterminator333]

It would be a nightmare if that thing touched you.

[HelmutVillam]

mmm, solid nitrogen ice cream...

[carl95125]

Great video !! What is the pumping speed of the scroll pump @ 1 Atm? I remember trying to freeze water (I did not think about making ice cream)in a glass beaker using LN2 but the expanding ice broke the glass. Could solid nitrogen expand like water ice, breaking the glass dewar?

Thanks, Carl

[arktouross]

The pumping speed is 600 liters/min, but that's a lot faster than it needs to be to create solid nitrogen.

[10mintwo]

eep. this demo make me cringe a little. it looks like you've bolted the lid of the vacuum tank on. I worry that a particularly violent eruption of a large amount of N2 ice out of the dewar into the warm vacuum jar will boil off so quickly as to overwhelm the pumping rate of your scroll pump. thereby potentially pressurizing the bell jar and causing the viewing port window (which is designed only to hold 1 atm of pressure in ONE direction) to explode outward. be careful....

[arktouross]

That is a notable precaution. For this reason, the top eight inch flange is not bolted on, despite what the video would suggest. The bolts you see are place holders there to make assembly a little easier. Any flash evaporation that overwhelms the scroll pump would simply cause this flange to lift up slightly, relieving the pressure.

[10mintwo]

carry on then :)

[vmelkon]

very nice

[Inyourfacepunk]

man this is damn cool. we're learning about this in science and it's the first time that i actually think something that we're doing in school is cool.

[fartnox]

the only thing fun in school is science lunch and p.e