Question: what is the strangest substance you have used

Helena Quilter answered on 14 Mar 2016:

Great question, Nathan!

I think the strangest substance I’ve used is liquid nitrogen! Nitrogen is normally a gas but when it’s cooled down it turns into a liquid. Liquid nitrogen is one of the coldest substances on the planet – it’s about -196 degrees Celsius! It can freeze things instantly! I have to wear special gloves and safety glasses when I use it so I don’t freeze my hands.

I use it everyday to cool my reactions down quickly. Sometimes I heat up my chemicals and if I don’t cool them down with liquid nitrogen they can go into the atmosphere and I could have to start again. There’s a picture of me pouring it into a flask on my profile – you can see the nitrogen gas coming off as it warms up!

We used liquid nitrogen to make ice cream once. It was delicious! I think because it cools down so quickly the ice cream is super smooth and tastier than normal, yum!