A few weeks ago I had a chance to do some really cool science with my students. By cool, I mean cold, about -200 degrees Celcius cold! I brought liquid nitrogen into the classroom and got a chance to talk about properties of gasses while seeing some pretty unique physical phenomena. One of the best parts of my day was getting to share the nitrogen demos with students in the lower school, grades K-4. I almost always work with high school students, and while I enjoy working with them, there was something refreshing about the innocent excitement that filled the young students eyes. They could not contain the sheer amazement they had while watching the "magical" demos. From shrinking balloons, to eating frozen marshmallows, it was a special day. And its cute to hear the young students explanations for different things. When the nitrogen cools the air in a balloon, causing it to shrivel up into nothing, one little girl raised her hand and asked, with a grave seriousness, "Did you just kill the air?"
I've included a few pictures and a video of one of my favorite demonstrations. This was done in my senior physics class, and we managed to fit 14 balloons into the bowl of liquid nitrogen. Check it out - and don't ever let me hear you say science isn't "cool"!
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