Liquid Nitrogen Myths
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A human head dipped into liquid nitrogen for five seconds can be shattered into pieces (based on a scene from the film Jason X). | Busted | For this test, Grant built a pan hammer robot to simulate an object being smashed on the counter. Four heads using a mold of Kari's bust were then made, three made of ballistics gel, each with a skull and brain matter analog inside, and one completely made of ice. In the two control tests, the ice head shattered while the ballistics gel head in room temperature only had its front part broken. The test for the one dipped into liquid nitrogen for five seconds showed a result seemingly in between the two control tests: parts of the head did shatter, but not completely. To achieve the results shown in the film, the third head had to be dipped in the liquid nitrogen for five minutes. To really simulate human flesh and bone, the myth was then retested using two pigs' heads. The head dipped for only five seconds merely had its snout flattened while the one submerged for fifteen minutes did not even shatter, completely busting the myth.
In a related test not aired in the actual episode but shown on the MythBusters website, Kari made an ice sculpture of a pig's head. The pan hammer only broke off the snout of the ice head; the rest of the head was shattered after it fell off the table. |
| A fresh Christmas tree doused with liquid nitrogen can spontaneously explode. | Busted | For a control test, a Christmas tree explosion was made using a detonation cord. Then, a second Christmas tree was sprayed with liquid nitrogen. But after half an hour and with the temperature of the tree plummeting to almost −330 °F (−201.1 °C), no explosion occurred, not even after Tory fired it with buck shot. The myth was busted because conifers and other kinds of cold-climate trees have air spaces outside the tree cells large enough to accommodate the expanding water as it turns into ice, thus preventing an expected explosion. |
Read more about this topic: Myth Busters (2009 Season), Episode 129, Hurricane Windows
Famous quotes containing the words liquid and/or myths:
“Don’t forget the Dance Halls
Warwick and Savoy,
Where he picked his women, where
He drank his liquid joy.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“In New York—whose subway trains in particular have been “tattooed” with a brio and an energy to put our own rude practitioners to shame—not an inch of free space is spared except that of advertisements.... Even the most chronically dispossessed appear prepared to endorse the legitimacy of the “haves.””
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. “Cleaning and Cleansing,” Myths and Memories (1986)