Man Ignites Pool, Puts It Out With Liquid Nitrogen
In this corner: diethyl ether, the instantly flammable chemical known for blowing up the chemistry labs of the careless. In the other corner: The people's champion of cold, liquid nitrogen. These two face off in the newest delightfully bonkers video by the Backyard Scientist, in which he sets his swimming pool aflame and tries to extinguish it before it gets out of hand.
Diethyl ether makes a pretty convincing flame that spans the width of the pool. But it's not match for the liquid nitrogen, which spreads across the surface like the mists of a doomed lake and chokes the life out of the fire. It's not that the stuff is cold, it's that the nitrogen covers the surface of the pool and smothers the flames by cutting off the supply of oxygen. The gas creates a pretty damn cool mini-tornado at the end, too.
Watch through the rest of the video as the Backyard Scientist tosses liquid nitrogen directly into the pool. You know, just to see what happens.
