Liquid Nitrogen??? Can I buy it?

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Posted: 1/9/2005 2:11:13 PM EDT

I go to the Dermatologist every once in a while and have him "freeze" skin tags off of me. All he does is allpy the liquid nitrogen with a q-tip. So I was wondering if it is legal to own that stuff and if so where would I go about buying some? Isn't dry ice the same thing?

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:12:35 PM EDT

[#1]

Walmart has something similar that is used to take warts off by freezing them. Should do the same for the skin tag.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:19:46 PM EDT

[#2]

You might be able to buy it at a welding supply store, the one I was at last week had a big Liquid Nitrogen tank outside.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:22:12 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
So I was wondering if it is legal to own that stuff and if so where would I go about buying some? Isn't dry ice the same thing?

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, probably not as cold as liquid nitrogen. Don't know about handling liquid nitrogen, but it is extremely cold, I would be real careful.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:25:38 PM EDT

[#4]

Yes, you can buy it. No, you will NOT like the price.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:27:51 PM EDT

[#5]

LN2 is available if you want it. Yellow pages.

It's dangerous stuff (because of its temperature) and the flasks that you keep it in aren't cheap.

CJ

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:28:04 PM EDT

[#6]

How big are your skin tags? I just snip it off with a pair of sharp scissors, only stings for a few seconds

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:28:29 PM EDT

[#7]

dry ice isnt really the same thing, being solid CO2. dry ice is a little over -100 degrees Fahrenheit, but liquid nitrogen is about 3x as cold (around -300 F).

this website might be helpful to you. not much info but its a start.

www.williams.edu/Physics/kforkey/liquid_nitrogen.htm

i think its for how to make icecream via liquid nitrogen. there are some good safety tips and precautions, though.

i've often wondered the same question. i've had a couple warts removed by dry-ice. seems simple.

i would think dry ice would be sufficient. i suppose you could just hold the block of ice with oven mits and put the corner wherever you need to apply it. i'm not sure if there are any pertinent reasons why they use liquid nitrogen, except that since its colder it probably works better.

*EDIT:*
thought this was a neat picture.

if for some reason you're really interested in the website it came from, click here.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:31:43 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Quoted:
So I was wondering if it is legal to own that stuff and if so where would I go about buying some? Isn't dry ice the same thing?

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, probably not as cold as liquid nitrogen. Don't know about handling liquid nitrogen, but it is extremely cold, I would be real careful.

Comparing dry ice to liquid nitrogen is like comparing a Bic lighter to a blowtorch. Liquid nitrogen will f*** you up if you don't know exactly what you're doing with it.

You can get it, but it's a pain in the ass to go through the whole process and hideously expensive. It's also not that useful to the general populace. You're better off spending the money on a gun.

Unless you live in Kommiefornia. Then you're not allowed to own, do, say, think, or breathe anything. Unless you're a homosexual black hispanic woman cancer patient on welfare who immigrated illegally and has HIV and a deep hatred of guns, George Bush, capitalism, and America in general. Then you're okay.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:34:06 PM EDT

[#9]

What in the Sam Hell is a skin tag?

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:38:25 PM EDT

[#10]

When I worked as a Catipillar mechanic, we used it to shrink large bearing races to get them in the hole. Soon after it warmed up, you couldn't get it out unless you welded the race to draw it making it a little smaller. I used left over to freeze bananas then crack them with a hammer.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:39:29 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
What in the Sam Hell is a skin tag?

Politically corect term for a fucking wart. LOL

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:39:40 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
What in the Sam Hell is a skin tag?

You must not be very old.

What is a skin tag?

A skin tag is a common, benign condition which consists of a bit of skin that projects from the surrounding skin and may appear attached to the skin. Skin tags can vary quite a bit in appearance. They may be smooth or irregular, flesh colored or more deeply pigmented, and either simply be raised above the surrounding skin or have a stalk (a peduncle) so that the skin tag hangs from the skin.

Go here

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:40:21 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Quoted:
What in the Sam Hell is a skin tag?

Politically corect term for a fucking wart. LOL

Wrong

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:46:47 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
What in the Sam Hell is a skin tag?

here's one on my arm:

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:47:55 PM EDT

[#15]

LN2 needs to be kept in a dewar. Dewars are expensive to rent and own. Don't store LN2 in a closed room because it will displace all the O2 as it boils - you will suffocate.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:48:17 PM EDT

[#16]

Just bite them off !

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:49:14 PM EDT

[#17]

Yeah, where I come from, we call those warts.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:50:35 PM EDT

[#18]

You'll freeze your pecker off.

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:51:27 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Yeah, where I come from, we call those warts.

it's not a wart, those are warts

Posted: 1/9/2005 2:56:56 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
So I was wondering if it is legal to own that stuff and if so where would I go about buying some? Isn't dry ice the same thing?

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, probably not as cold as liquid nitrogen. Don't know about handling liquid nitrogen, but it is extremely cold, I would be real careful.

Comparing dry ice to liquid nitrogen is like comparing a Bic lighter to a blowtorch. Liquid nitrogen will f*** you up if you don't know exactly what you're doing with it.

You can get it, but it's a pain in the ass to go through the whole process and hideously expensive. It's also not that useful to the general populace. You're better off spending the money on a gun.

Unless you live in Kommiefornia. Then you're not allowed to own, do, say, think, or breathe anything. Unless you're a homosexual black hispanic woman cancer patient on welfare who immigrated illegally and has HIV and a deep hatred of guns, George Bush, capitalism, and America in general. Then you're okay.

My friend buys it for parties, you can make instant icecream with it by mixing sugar cream and some kaluah. We messed with it alot you can even slash some one yourself with no ill effects. I forget how much a gallon or so was, maybe 60 or 70 bucks and you can buy it at gas supply houses. The one buy me even rents a big thermous type thing to hold it.

So basically your talking out your ass.

ETA: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream recipie

and

October 2004

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:00:37 PM EDT

[#21]

I thought that liquid nitrogen was cheap? I heard someone mention that it costs about as much as milk. Maybe that's only if you buy it in bulk and already have the storage equipment...

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:01:32 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Yeah, where I come from, we call those warts.

tray.dermatology.uiowa.edu/Images/Clin/Verruca02.jpg

it's not a wart, those are warts

Sweet Jesus! That thing is The Mother of All Warts!

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:07:53 PM EDT

[#23]

www.polsci.wvu.edu/Henry/Icecream/icecream.mpg

That stuff looks dangerous as hell ???

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:36:25 PM EDT

[#24]

Fun factoid:

Liquid Nitrogen is colder than Oxygen's boiling point

Application:

Immerse copper tubing in liquid nitrogen. Pass air through it. On the other side you will get liquid oxygen.
If you haven't already guessed, liquid oxygen is extremely flammable. There used to be some videos floating around the internet of a guy who liked to light his charcoal grills with liquid oxygen.

At the end of the video, all that was left of the grill itself was a pile of powder and some remants of metal...

Awesome.
edit: found it home.att.net/~purduejacksonville/grill.html
George Gobel's original site has been taken down by his campus overlords

also edited to add:

originally by swindle1984:
Yeah, where I come from, we call those warts.

Well thank goodness the rest of us don't come from where you do or else we might be as ignorant.

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:40:08 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
Fun factoid:

Liquid Nitrogen is colder than Oxygen's boiling point

Application:

Immerse copper tubing in liquid nitrogen. Pass air through it. On the other side you will get liquid oxygen.
If you haven't already guessed, liquid oxygen is extremely flammable. There used to be some videos floating around the internet of a guy who liked to light his charcoal grills with liquid oxygen.

Oxygen is not flammable. It supports combustion.

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:42:46 PM EDT

[#26]

I purchased a 35L pressurized LN2 tank off eBay a few months ago.

It costs me $50 to get filled at a Airgas.

I have used it to make icecream three times. The last was on NewYears.

I've worked with liquid nitrogen for several years, so I consider myself experienced.

But I still managed to burn (freeze) a spot on my finger. It made a blister just like a
second degree burn.

I consider it pretty safe. About as safe as boiling water.
Except you can come into contact with it for brief periods without any harm, unlike boiling water.

Dave

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:42:51 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Fun factoid:

Liquid Nitrogen is colder than Oxygen's boiling point

Application:

Immerse copper tubing in liquid nitrogen. Pass air through it. On the other side you will get liquid oxygen.
If you haven't already guessed, liquid oxygen is extremely flammable. There used to be some videos floating around the internet of a guy who liked to light his charcoal grills with liquid oxygen.

Oxygen is not flammable. It supports combustion.

Nitrogen being heavier than air, will displace oxygen, and you could suffocate if the proper precautions were not observed.

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:51:04 PM EDT

[#28]

I'm no chemist, but gas oxygen itself is not flamable. Liquid oxygen is completely different isnt it?

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:53:49 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Nitrogen being heavier than air, will displace oxygen, and you could suffocate if the proper precautions were not observed.

You! Back to freshman chemistry!

Kharn

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:53:55 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
I'm no chemist, but gas oxygen itself is not flamable. Liquid oxygen is completely different isnt it?

That is true, but since most of the earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, but IF something burns in normal atmosphere, in the presence of pure oxygen it is explosive, witness what's left of the BBQer.

Posted: 1/9/2005 3:59:13 PM EDT

[#31]

I once had about a gallon or two in a styrofoam container. The stuff "sloshed" like I couldn't believe. Perhaps this has to do with low surface tension??? Was dangerous as hell because of this, IMO. Little movement of the container would literally cause the stuff to want to slosh out...even though the container was far from full. I am curious why the stuff sloshed the way it did...

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:02:13 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
I'm no chemist, but gas oxygen itself is not flamable. Liquid oxygen is completely different isnt it?

I am a chemist, but that doesn't add any credibility to what I have to say.

Liquid oxygen is not flammable either. It supports combustion.

If something is already on fire, adding more oxygen, either as a gas or liquid, will speed combustion.
(for normal materials)

I've not seen it, but I've read that if you ignited something like a charcoal briquette, after it was
soaked in liquid oxygen, it would virtually detonate.

I have dripped liquid oxygen on my skin. No ill effects.
It was a result of making the liquid nitrogen ice cream in a stainless bowl.
Liquid oxygen will condense on the bowl's bottom if it has a pool of liquid nitrogen inside.

I've tried, unsuccessfully, to soak a wood splint in some collected LO2, and light with
a match. Couldn't get things coordinated enough to do it, and I was a little shy of the
potential effects.

Dave

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:04:56 PM EDT

[#33]

Check your local college/university chemistry lab. Ours sells small quantities of liquid nitrogen on the cheap.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:05:07 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
I once had about a gallon or two in a styrofoam container. The stuff "sloshed" like I couldn't believe. Perhaps this has to do with low surface tension??? Was dangerous as hell because of this, IMO. Little movement of the container would literally cause the stuff to want to slosh out...even though the container was far from full. I am curious why the stuff sloshed the way it did...

A gallon of liquid oxygen, or liquid nitrogen?

I've never seen liquid helium. But I've been told it will actually creep out of an open container.
Assuming it can chill the surface enough, it's surface tension is SOOOO low it will keep going.

Liquid nitrogen acts like a less dense water in a sytrofoam bucket.
Acetone is less dense than water, but LN2 is probably less dense yet.
With a lower surface tension.

Dave

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:08:32 PM EDT

[#35]

warts are viral in origin...namely HPV, or human papilloma virus...and can be passed to another person, or to another part of your body.

A skin tag is not associated with any infective particle, virus or otherwise, and are just a benign skin growth of unknown origin....they can however become metaplastic if they are in an area where they are constantly irritated...such as the neckline....where it is irritated by a shirt or necklace. They are more closely related to a mole than a wart...

Clip em off...disinfect a pair of fingernail clippers and clip em off...no biggie....liquid nitrogen not needed.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:09:28 PM EDT

[#36]

We have quite a few tanks of it at my house. My dad's job before he started buying business was doing basically travel veterinarian thing to different farms in the area. It's cool stuff, we've had a good time using it to mess with stuff, or to make ice cream. It makes ice cream like those dippin' dots things. It's awesome.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:12:14 PM EDT

[#37]

I've used something like this to remove warts before. Turn it upside down and spray it. The propelent comes out in a very cold liquid form. I sprayed it on a half full can of coke and froze the contents.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:17:09 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
I've used something like this to remove warts before. Turn it upside down and spray it. The propelent comes out in a very cold liquid form. I sprayed it on a half full can of coke and froze the contents.

www.computercleanusa.com/products/images/CA-1.jpg

No you didn't.

Those "canned air" things contain r134a type freon.

They have a boiling point -26.6C

If you managed to empty a full can of the canned air into an insulated cup, and then
dunk a half full can of coke that was already near freezing, then I would believe you.

Regardless, r134a is not good to get on your skin.

Not because of it's temperature so much as the vapor is absorbed, and causes pain,
as well as other problems.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:22:28 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
warts are viral in origin...namely HPV, or human papilloma virus...and can be passed to another person, or to another part of your body.

A skin tag is not associated with any infective particle, virus or otherwise, and are just a benign skin growth of unknown origin....they can however become metaplastic if they are in an area where they are constantly irritated...such as the neckline....where it is irritated by a shirt or necklace. They are more closely related to a mole than a wart...

Clip em off...disinfect a pair of fingernail clippers and clip em off...no biggie....liquid nitrogen not needed.

I find those from time to time and just snip em off with whatever's handy. Just took one out of the middle of my back a few days ago.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:25:23 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I've used something like this to remove warts before. Turn it upside down and spray it. The propelent comes out in a very cold liquid form. I sprayed it on a half full can of coke and froze the contents.

www.computercleanusa.com/products/images/CA-1.jpg

No you didn't.

Those "canned air" things contain r134a type freon.

They have a boiling point -26.6C

If you managed to empty a full can of the canned air into an insulated cup, and then
dunk a half full can of coke that was already near freezing, then I would believe you.

Regardless, r134a is not good to get on your skin.

Not because of it's temperature so much as the vapor is absorbed, and causes pain,
as well as other problems.

Try it if you dont believe me. Why the f*ck would I lie about it?

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:30:12 PM EDT

[#41]

LOL Eli75

I sprayed that canned air upside down on my wifes butt when she bent over.

She kicked my ass.

Posted: 1/9/2005 4:46:35 PM EDT

[#42]

SHIITTTT I HAVE 5000 GALLONS. well its at work but still if you want some come on down to south san francisco (i know it sucks) and ill fill up your container. just try to get a vaccuum lined container or it wont last long. shitt i got some liquid helium too if you want that. we use the ln2 to cool the lo2 in one of our nmr's but mostly its for beeing really cold and freezing shit.
im me if you are around and want some.

btw... you can get some 135 liter dewars from a gas supply place and they only cost me 80 bucks.

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:06:45 PM EDT

[#43]

what? no one want some?

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:09:25 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:

btw... you can get some 135 liter dewars from a gas supply place and they only cost me 80 bucks.

You can get a 135L dewar for $80???

Is that $80 to fill, or $80 for the tank itself?

Dave

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:15:16 PM EDT

[#45]

$80 full but the rent is $50 per month.

but then again we go throug a shit load of it so we probably get a discount.

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:44:56 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:
Fun factoid:

Liquid Nitrogen is colder than Oxygen's boiling point

This reminds me, I just read that when filling fuel tanks with Liquid H2 on spacecraft ( -423F I think), they have to purge the tanks of any Oxygen or Nitrogen because the gasses would turn into solids inside the tank and cause problems.

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:49:59 PM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Fun factoid:

Liquid Nitrogen is colder than Oxygen's boiling point

This reminds me, I just read that when filling fuel tanks with Liquid H2 on spacecraft ( -423F I think), they have to purge the tanks of any Oxygen or Nitrogen because the gasses would turn into solids inside the tank and cause problems.

yu they have to purge them because some air might have gotten into then. air plus ln2 or lo2 would = ice and that is a solid and not good to go through hoses.

Posted: 1/9/2005 5:50:01 PM EDT

[#48]

How long would LN2 last in a vacuum type container if you didnt open it? Can you do that, or would it be constantly trying to revert to a gas and become unstable?