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27th Dec 2016

Man throws liquid nitrogen into his own face because science

Don't try this at home.

Tom Victor

What sort of person wakes up one day and thinks “I’m going to throw liquid nitrogen into my own face from close range”?

Grant Thompson, that’s who.

Thompson, who is known as the ‘King of Random’ on YouTube, does his fair share of experiments with the stuff.

You know the sort of thing, videos like ‘Is it Safe to Put Dry Ice In Liquid Nitrogen?’ and ‘Will A Recording GoPro Survive Liquid Nitrogen?’.

Why does he do this? He doesn’t need to explain himself.

Now, a few people have been getting in touch with Thompson with concern for his wellbeing, urging him to exercise caution when using liquid nitrogen for fear that it could cause him damage.

He responded to these fears by putting on extra safety protection. Nah, just kidding. He responded by throwing a cup of liquid nitrogen into his own face.

Why? Presumably so he could show off how awesome science is.

As you can probably guess, based on the fact that we didn’t give you a warning before the video, it doesn’t do any harm when it comes into contact with your face. Which is probably for the best if you’ve read this while eating.

“Liquid nitrogen hitting the skin reacts on a principle called the Ledenfrost Effect,” Thompson explains.

“It’s almost like not touching it at all, because it’s being repelled by an invisible barrier.

“When liquid nitrogen touches my face, the same thing – it basically just repels and sheds off like water.”

The more you know.