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What Happens To Liquid Nitrogen In A Vacuum?

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Lisa Winter

Guest Author

1376 What Happens To Liquid Nitrogen In A Vacuum?
ChefSteps

Liquid nitrogen is really amazing. It has a boiling point of -196 degrees Celsius (-321 degrees Fahrenheit), so it must be kept incredibly cold in order to exist as a liquid. In a vacuum chamber, the reduced pressure allows the nitrogen to boil more quickly. However, the evaporation process cools down the remaining nitrogen, allowing it to exist as a liquid. When the temperature is brought down to -210 degrees Celsius (−346 degrees Fahrenheit), nitrogen will freeze and become a solid that looks like glass.

The solid nitrogen then tries to force itself into a more tightly-packed configuration, and as the atoms begin the chain reaction of rearranging themselves, it creates flakes of snow that get shed off in the process.

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Seeing solid nitrogen is really rare, and seeing nitrogen snow is incredibly amazing. Check out this video by ChefSteps:

 

 


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