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Liquid nitrogen is great for making ice cream and breathing smoke like a dragon.
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But what if you drank an entire glass of pure liquid nitrogen?
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Is it dangerous?
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Could it cause your body harm?
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First, what is liquid nitrogen?
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As the name implies, it's the liquid form of nitrogen gas, a colorless, odorless gas that makes up about 78% of our atmosphere.
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Nitrogen turns into a liquid at -320 degrees Fahrenheit, much much colder than the 32 degrees Fahrenheit of your glass of ice water!
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Being so cold, there's lots of interesting things you can do with liquid nitrogen, like add a fun foggy effect to drinks or flash freezing foods.
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But while this stuff may look fun, liquid nitrogen is EXTREMELY dangerous if not handled correctly.
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Especially if it is ingested.
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First, what happens is that the majority of liquid nitrogen evaporates in your throat and turns into gas.
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There's a tiny flap in your esophagus called the epiglottis that is there to stop gas from escaping out of your stomach.
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This traps the cold nitrogen gas causing it to expand, which can cause burns and internal rupturing.
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Things only get worse as the liquid nitrogen travels down into the stomach.
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As happened to a young woman in the United Kingdom, the extreme cold of the liquid nitrogen can burn holes in your stomach and destroy the stomach lining.
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The damage to hers was so bad that her entire stomach needed to be removed!
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If not treated immediately, this damage to the stomach and esophagus could even lead to death!
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So while liquid nitrogen may be useful for cooking and fun for party tricks, please do not drink it, because it won't be fun for very long.