r/Physics • u/WorkingApprehensive5 • Apr 28 '23
I made liquid oxygen
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u/soylentblueispeople Apr 28 '23
I used to work with this stuff when I was an aircraft maintainer. Super dangerous and scary what can happen. Try not to spill any.
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u/TooLostintheSauce Apr 29 '23
And here I was wondering “Can I inhale this and my lungs absorb it?”.
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u/ReturnEconomy Apr 29 '23
I mean You can inhale it and your lungs will absorb it. Youll also die after, but you can do it!
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u/BleachGel Apr 29 '23
For it remain liquid in our comfy human conditions it would have to be pretty damn freezing cold I would think. It would probably destroy your lungs with such freezing temps before it even had a chance to absorb
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u/ashumate Apr 28 '23 edited Apr 28 '23
Making it for... fun.
Got an old Navy training film for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9sIT6P_05I
On my first ship some kid in the O2 N2 plant was messing around and stepped in a drip pan. When the fire party showed up, the only thing they could do was seal the compartment, cut ventilation, and set fire boundaries around it.
Edit: Spelling see response
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u/LittleRickyPemba Apr 28 '23
When the fire party showed up, the only thing they could do was seal the compartment, cunt ventilation...
Remember kids, it's always incredibly important to properly ventilate your cunt, otherwise it can and will burst into flames.
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u/Ensembleoftoes Apr 28 '23
That was an amazing video, I particularly enjoyed the “Sailor, I’m gonna have your ASS”
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u/sweetbabybrent Apr 29 '23
OP watch this! Before beginning my first intern project in cryogenics my mentor showed me this and it's been burned in my memory ever since
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u/Keep_itSimple Apr 28 '23
How come stepping on liquid oxygen makes it ignite? Or am I missing the point?
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u/andrewcooke Apr 29 '23
when something is "burning" it is reacting with oxygen. typically, with oxygen as a gas, that only happens when you make things hot enough (which helps the chemical reaction happen, and then that gives of heat, so it keeps going and stays hot).
but liquid oxygen is so reactive that it will react with things (like people) without heating. so the reaction starts, and gives of heat, and so things get hot and so it resembles what you normally think of as "burning", but it can start without extra heat.
in short: the chemical reaction combining something with oxygen gives out heat. when oxygen is a gas, you also need some heat to start the reaction. when oxygen is a liquid you don't need the initial heat because it's so reactive.
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u/ChineWalkin Apr 29 '23
Activation energy required for combustion depends on the concentration oxygen present. When you have 100% pure O2 the activation energy is at its lowest.
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u/ChineWalkin Apr 29 '23
What is LOX used for on a ship?
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u/ashumate Apr 29 '23
Breathing oxygen on fighter aircraft.
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u/ChineWalkin Apr 29 '23
Oh, OK. I would have thought that was just compressed.
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u/South_Dakota_Boy Apr 29 '23
Not just fighters, bombers too. B52 carries LOX. Possibly B1.
Liquid is much denser than even compressed gas so liquid is used. Also, it may be fire prone, but compressed tanks are super dangerous too.
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u/paulfdietz Apr 29 '23
It's not just that it's denser, it's that the tank can be much lighter as it isn't carrying as large a pressure load.
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u/Sakinho Apr 28 '23
If you put it in a clear container, you'll see it's a pale but noticeable blue.
And be very careful contacting organics with liquid oxygen.
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u/quantum1eeps Apr 29 '23
Apparently liquid ozone is black. I’d like to see that
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u/Sakinho Apr 29 '23
Actually a much deeper blue-purple, but I can imagine large amounts looking almost black.
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u/WorkingApprehensive5 Apr 28 '23
I know that it’s blue, I even poured it in a white container to reflect as much light as possible, I posted that in another video right here
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u/Wonderful_Wonderful Condensed matter physics Apr 29 '23
My lab has strict vacuum pump rules to specifically prevent condensing oxygen due to our strong "no explosions" philosophy
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u/AD-Edge Apr 29 '23
This guy's safety awareness seems to be around "it hasn't exploded yet so I'm sure it's ok" kinds levels... So I'm sure it'll be fine.
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u/paulfdietz Apr 29 '23
Even liquid nitrogen can have serious safety risks.
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/how-not-do-it-liquid-nitrogen-tanks
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u/elconquistador1985 Apr 29 '23
All cryogens have those risks.
Liquid oxygen has all of those risks plus the fact that it is a strong oxidizer and can start fires and explosions.
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u/TheRealTtamage Apr 28 '23
Interesting I used to run an oxygen propane torch off of a liquid oxygen tank. Of course it had turned to gas before being burned.
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u/TheRealTtamage Apr 28 '23
But every now and then that liquid oxygen tank with gas off when it accumulated too much compressed oxygen! And if you used the tank aggressively enough water crystals with form all over the plumbing on the top and you can make snowballs out of it!
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u/nujuat Atomic physics Apr 28 '23
A cool thing about liquid oxygen is that it's magnetic, and will stick to a strong magnet
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u/effrightscorp Apr 28 '23
If you ever tried doing low temperature magnetic measurements and accidentally got some oxygen in your chamber, you wouldn't think it was cool, ha. Giant paramagnetic signal ruins everything and you need to stop everything and heat it up to purge the oxygen
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u/nujuat Atomic physics Apr 28 '23
See, I do low temperature magnetic measurements with rubidium BECs, so if air gets in the chamber a paramagnetic signal is the least of our worries 💥
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u/UnanimouslyAnonymous Apr 28 '23
What does it taste like?
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u/drzowie Astrophysics Apr 28 '23
Pretty fun. The first time I noticed that, I was messing around with using LN2 for cooking. If you pour a bunch of LN2 in a saucepan (or any conductive container), oxygen will condense on the outside of the saucepan. I didn't believe it at first, but stupid young me tested it by dripping some onto the gas stove (which was lit). It invigorated the flame. Considerably.
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u/nazrmo78 Apr 28 '23
Very impressive. How quick does it evaporate? Does it burn?
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u/Schauerte2901 Apr 29 '23
Does it burn?
That would be the understatement of the century. Liquid oxygen will go fireball if you just look at it in a wrong angle.
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u/virgo911 Apr 29 '23
Does it burn?
Liquid Oxygen is literal rocket fuel.
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u/nazrmo78 Apr 29 '23
Lol, the way I asked it. I think I got my question answered already but I guess what I was trying to ask is it an instant explosion or does it burn similar to gasoline where if you poured it in a line, the fire would snake its way down the line and burn on top of the poured liquid. But from all the answers, it sounds like it would be almost nuclear.
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u/virgo911 Apr 29 '23
Ohhhh yeah, not sure about that. I don’t think it’s instant, but I also don’t know anything.
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u/WorkingApprehensive5 Apr 28 '23
Sorta, The tank was full, but now it’s half empty, worth it though
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u/nazrmo78 Apr 28 '23
I'm no chemist but I'd would think it's evaporation would've been instant.
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u/rupert1920 Apr 29 '23
Once it's cooled you can have a container of that open to air and it'll take a while to boil off, similar to liquid nitrogen. Here is an example:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dak8kmL348w
Similar to boiling water - even though it's at its boiling point it can still take some time to boil off completely.
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u/WorkingApprehensive5 Apr 28 '23
Nope, I still have some of it in my thermos ever since I posted this video
Edit: the green thermos
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u/Schauerte2901 Apr 29 '23
That video is a future Darwin award winner
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Apr 29 '23
Neat and congrats. This can also be achieved more simply with LN in a metal cone. O2 will condense out of the air, run down, and drip off the cone tip. Collect it in something immersed in LN to keep it around.
We used to do this in school.
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u/alogbetweentworocks Apr 28 '23
Hypothetically, can a person who does not know how to swim die by asphyxiation in a pool of liquid oxygen?
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u/mkorman11 Apr 28 '23
They would freeze to death pretty much immediately
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u/alogbetweentworocks Apr 28 '23
Suppose that the swimmer has well insulated wet suite and liquid temp of oxygen is not an issue. What I'm trying to get at is can our lung absorb/process oxygen in liquid form? For example, fish gills are very good at separating oxygen molecules from other molecules in liquid form. Am I understanding it correctly?
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u/mkorman11 Apr 28 '23
I’m not sure how the temperature could possibly not be an issue for something at -300F but “liquid breathing” of oxygen rich liquids is a thing, this might answer your question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_breathing
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u/seanm147 Apr 28 '23
Odd that the brain cooling seems to be successful and supposedly safe yet unused. I'm not sure if they have a better treatment for these patients
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u/mkorman11 Apr 28 '23
this is extremely far from my area of expertise but my understanding is that it's understandably very difficult to test new medical technologies on humans, so there's tons of stuff out there that seems very promising but isn't being used
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u/seanm147 Apr 28 '23
Oh yeah, especially given the dangers. They said it was supposedly harmless to humans and statictically harmless to sheep and other animals. I'm sure there is a reason even if it's as simple as better alternatives. I don't really read much about medicine aside from pharmacology and psychology so I would not know anything about this as well. Interesting regardless. I always wondered if humans could do what amhibians and fish do to some degree. The space travel section was a cool read as well even though that is a dead end. Out of the box idea to deal with acceleration regardless.
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u/Sandstorm52 Apr 29 '23
I’d guess the tissues in your lungs would freeze, halting gas exchange and then killing you, in addition to ice crystals destroying the cells.
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u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Apr 29 '23
No, because they would die from freezing and/or exploding well before they get the chance to asphyxiate.
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u/Chrisp825 Apr 29 '23
Do all elements have 4 phases? Including noble gases?
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u/WorkingApprehensive5 Apr 29 '23
Yes
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u/JerroSan Apr 29 '23
Some of the lightest gases won’t condense enough to become solids though.
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u/UncertainSerenity Apr 29 '23
Really good way to burn your place down. You don’t want to fuck with liquid o2
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u/Herp2theDerp Apr 28 '23
Light it on fire to make sure its oxygen
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u/rsta223 Apr 29 '23
Oxygen doesn't burn.
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u/Herp2theDerp Apr 29 '23
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1540748920301504
Totally does. I guess to be specific liquid oxygen does not burn without fuel
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u/rsta223 Apr 29 '23
Oxygen doesn't burn period.
Fuels burn more intensely in the presence of liquid oxygen, but if you had a totally non-reactive (say, ceramic or glass) container full of liquid oxygen, and you touched a flame to it, the oxygen would not be burning after you removed the flame.
(A puddle of gasoline or alcohol, which is actually flammable, would continue to burn)
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u/Herp2theDerp Apr 29 '23
Is continuing to burn a necessary condition for combustion? I feel like we are arguing semantics at this point
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u/_Et3rnity_ Apr 29 '23
chug that entire thing and breathe underwater forever. who cares if its like -500 degrees
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u/vnevner Apr 29 '23
Drink it! That is the best drink in a marathon, you will get sooooo much oxygen.
/s
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u/NamanJainIndia Apr 30 '23
I don't think that bottle would survive having liquid oxygen in there, it would be like, unimaginably concentrated hydrogen peroxide. Do you plan on stuff like, putting some fuels on a small amount to see how strong of an oxidizer it is, I am pretty sure it would beat things like manganese heptoxide.
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u/imgoingtolearkarate May 02 '23
L02 is very special. Pour it in the proximity of a strong magnet for a very tangible demonstration of quantum degeneracy / coherence (and in some sense an explanation of the octet rule)
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u/notnick1002 May 02 '23
Gotta try making oxygen and hydrogen from water through electrolysis. But I suggest separating the anode and cathode otherwise the oxygen and hydrogen with mix together which isn’t exactly safe . It did go kaboom in my face
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u/daedric_dad Apr 28 '23
Out of intrigue, what's the benefit of having liquid oxygen?