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I love the talk about safety and using a blast shield then waiting til after the time bomb is set to actually set it up 😂

The steel was also reducing in size a bit. Two for one deal.

I worked for a monument company for 6 years. In that time, we saw multiple 2,000 pound stones lifted and slid off their bases by a layer of ice less than 1/8 inch thick. Ice is a wicked powerful thing.

In the years before explosives, they used to mine granite by drilling holes into it, then filling those holes with water, plugging those water filled holes with waxed wooden plugs, and waiting for winter. The continuous freezing temperatures would cause the water in the holes to freeze, and expand, which would crack the huge blocks of granite loose from the solid vein of granite rock. Very high pressures, indeed.

This is also why compressed air tanks (scuba, paintball, etc) are water tested. A failure of the tank when filled with water is much less violent than the failure of a container filled with air.

Action Lab: "I wanted a shape that wouldn't deform easily under pressure. What I chose was a cylinder" Ron Weasley: "It's a pipe bomb!"

Once I was a science teacher at a private school. My supervisor, who was supposed to get lab equipment and text books, had failed to do so all semester long. So, I had to make up my own experiments. It was really hard because it was my very first semester teaching science, so I had to learn lots of other stuff for the first time too. The children asked me to use a fire extinguisher and a pillowcase to make dry ice (I think they saw it on Instagram). I got it to work the 2nd try. As I was passing the dry ice around (I had gloves for them to wear, and told them not to hold it for very long even with the gloves), one of the children suggested I put it in a plastic bottle to see what would happen. I immediately knew that the bottle would fail if I let all the dry ice melt with the cap on, but I thought, "It will probably 'pop' after a few minutes. I just need to make sure nobody's holding it when it pops". However, I had underestimated how strong the plastic bottle was. There was a point at which I could see solid CO2 ice floating on top of liquid CO2, which I thought was pretty cool. If I had been thinking, I should have unscrewed it, but you know young children are naughty and always getting into trouble, so I was distracted. I threw the bottle into a plastic bin, set it behind me, and forgot about it. A few minutes later, it exploded right behind me as I was talking to the children. The trash bin was totally destroyed. It was like 2 feet behind me when it exploded, and I said, "holy ****". Nobody got hurt, but all the other teachers in the building heard it and I got in trouble. * In hind-sight, it was pretty dumb. My only excuses are that I wasn't given the resources I was supposed to have, and I had to make up everything on the fly in my very first semester as a science teacher. So yea, this guy is totally right. Trapping a gas in a container is dangerous. The size of the explosion will be proportionate to the strength of the container. *I was made to sign a paper saying I had done a dangerous experiment outside of the science classroom without safety equipment. I wrote above my signature, "the science room was occupied and there is no safety equipment." I gave it to my supervisor and she looked mortified. She was a middle-aged woman, who I don't think really cared about anything other than covering her own butt. She completely failed to do everything that was her responsibility (get science textbooks, lab equipment, apply to renew my visa, etc), and I had to do these things for her. I think the paper she gave me was meant to put all the responsibility for the accident on me, but my note completely destroyed her intention, because she was responsible for getting the lab equipment. She let me go after the first semester (causing a lot of stress for me, since I was living in the country on a work visa). She said this accident was the reason, but I think the real reason was that I had to go behind her back to do her job for her (getting my own science equipment and getting somebody else to help me with my visa, etc), and she was embarrassed. So anyway, the lessons from this story are that spontaneous science lessons with children are a bad idea (you don't have time to think through all the consequences of your actions), trapped gas is dangerous, and beware of making middle-aged women who are your supervisors look bad (they will be vindictive and won't take responsibility for anything).

I was scared from the beginning of pouring liquid nitrogen how this will end. Those end caps are made of cast iron. They are quite brittle even in room temperatures.

For reference, the Mariana Trench has a pressure of 1,071 atmospheres, so pretty intense pressure to keep ice from expanding.

"It's not dangerous this way," he said. "It won't explode." Water: You underestimate my power!

What perfect timing to protect the camera! Also, I didn't know freezing water had THAT much energy! Thanks for showing it!

You should use a stainless steel alloy, like 304. Mild steel gets very weak at LN2 cryo temperatures, but the end caps are cast iron which is even more brittle. Also, a smaller diameter pipe, like 1" or less, will be subjected to smaller forces, and is typically over-engineered.

You mentioned "Don't try this at home." So we tried it at my friend's home. Thanks for the advice.

6:34 Not pictured is the ice they use in McDonald's, known as ICE OMEGA. It uses the same amount of water as normal ice but takes up twice the volume of your drink.

Hey there. I'm a plumber and I was genuinely not expecting that. Steel pipe is one of the strongest and it's not prone to breaking until it's old and rusty. Thank you especially for encouraging proper safety measures after that awesome reaction.

The subtle klaxon in the background was a nice touch.

Has his gloves on when filling the bottle with water Has his gloves off when puring in liquid nitrogen True Chad :D

_"I'm going to be behind my blast shield"_ ...

AMAZING! Thank you so much, such great serendipity. I have been pondering this topic in my head for a few days and then one of my favourite KZfaqr posts a video on it. Stellar as always. You have my gratitude.

Great experiment! I didn't expect it to be that energetic. Thanks

Well your shield timing was almost perfect

4:12 that siren there was just perfecly timed

We've been using this force to literally break apart mountains. I worried about brittleness though. And potentially the seal failing as the metal parts contract at different rates, setting off a rapid cascade when water leaks from the container.

Enjoyed watching this experiment. Thank you for bringing interesting science demos to youtube!

We do this at work on a weekly basis to perform cryo scanning electron microscopy on hydrated samples. The goal is to freeze the (small volume) of water so fast that the ice that forms is vitreous (non-crystalline) in order to avoid damaging the microscopic structures we wish to observe. To accomplish this, we put the LN2 under vacuum until it turns to a slush, break the vacuum and quickly plunge the sample into the LN2 and reestablish the vacuum. In this manner, the water flash freezes, forming vitreous ice that not expand as it freezes, thereby preserving the integrity of the structures. The sample is then transferred under vacuum to the SEM chamber where we manipulate the temperature and pressure to cause the vitreous ice to sublimate away, leaving the frozen structures visible to image in the microscope. Cool video, and nice discussion on the phase diagram of water. Glad you got that blast shield up just in time!

"Let's see if pipes can stop water from freezing" "All of texas" we all ready did this experiment

This was Brilliant, I've always wanted do this and find out, I always thought the expansion will win and break or warp anything trying to contain it. What was interesting was the other state of Ice if it was possible to stop the expansion. This was the best, thanks.

Interesting question but the answer given at the end of the video starting around 7:02 is quite off the mark: As the dense ice phase starts to form it will tend to lower the pressure in any closed vessel, whether real or ideal. So its formation will be strongly self-limiting. Instead as cooling continues, the pressure will then decrease to follow a phase equilibrium (mixture) of mostly liquid with a small fraction of "dense" ice. The pressure will not be able to rise again until a temperature, where some "regular" (hexagonal) ice starts to form, is reached. From there the remaining liquid fraction will freeze into a mixure of mostly regular ice and some small portion of other (dense) ice phases. Once it is all solid, it could never be all dense ice, as that would not produce any pressure inside the containment vessel, and therefore could not be stable. Instead some major fraction of regular ice would need to be present for any dense ice to have even a chance of remaining. Ultimately as temperatures cool further the regular ice will transition to ice XI (see chart at 6:00), and so you would end up with a mixture of mostly ice XI with probably some small fraction of ice IX.

I can just imagine the cashiers face when he was buying that completely unsuspicious looking pipe

If you are wondering how I screwed it shut with an incompressible fluid inside like water, some water leaked through the threads as I was screwing it on. So why didn’t the water just leak out when it froze? Because it freezes from the outside in, so the threads froze first so it self-sealed so that it held in the pressure.

Thanks for answering this! It was one of those questions I pondered while trying to fall asleep.

Excellent experiment and very well narrated.

Wow. Did not expect an explosion. I expected a crack to appear with ice protruding.

This is something i've wondered about for a very long time. Ever since my first physics course in Highschool. Thanks for testing this.

Well done and well presented 👍🏼

Love the explanation with the phase diagram!

That blast screen timing was priceless :0)

As a plumber, I saw this experiment conducted MANY times!!!😁 I always said it would be cool to see to moment the pipes gives up.

I don't know what could I do with this but this thing about water and the way this man presented just made me go WOW!!

My favorite you tube stuff man.thanks.

The last part regarding phases actually blew me away, I didn't even realise that was a thing!

4:19 timing is everything

One of the things I've always wondered. Cool! (no pun intended) I knew there were different phases of ice, but I didn't know some were denser than water.

Nice safety precautions there!

"If you can get up to Ice 9--" Me, who's read Vonnegut: "UH oh"

Yes i always wanted to see this!

After watching. I was aware of different ice phases but not the different properties. Fascinating.

Wow! You have answered my question. So, it does expand regardless constraints. Thank you. Love your experiment, shows the molecular force!

It’s the fusion of “Under Pressure” and “Ice, Ice Baby”!

The end cap was made from cast iron which is much more brittle than steel. If you want to try again check out what’s available online for Ultra High Pressure fittings. Some of the items are in excess of 90,000 psi. 😉

That shield came in just in time...!!! Great video.

Great Science! Keep up the great work!

Bro that was perfect timing. God bless you.❤

I have *failed spinal surgery syndrome* and most of my life is spent laying down now. I can be on my feet for no more than two or three hours a day IF I walk at 1mph or less. (If I exceed that I collapse because that's too much energy too quickly) . I crave learning. I crave interaction, like good scientific discussions which I only minimally get. I would sooooo love either a lottery win so I could pay a personal assistant and get the learning and interaction I need or a next door neighbour that actually needed someone free all the time to help with stuff like Action lab does. Of all the strange and varied things I've craved in my life, this is the most unexpected for me. I just couldn't forsee what the future held for me... Still, I'm alive and have access to the internet 😎 and there's Action lab 😎 keep them coming!

Excellent, thx!

This was extremely interesting! 😀

I was questioning this yesterday with my girlfriend "What would happen if you put liquid water in a steel case and freeze it?". And this video pops up.

This reminds me of plants being able to grow through concrete.

Like the flight alarm in the background before the explosion. Nice timing

Very interesting, thanks.

I'm suddenly reminded that freeze/thaw cycles can split mountains in half.

"This was cool experiment." ~ Sub Zero

I live in North Texas and I see this all the time when tubular steel on fences, trailers and on buildings fills with rain water and freezes. Square becomes round and sometimes splits the metal.

Very interesting! 👍

If anyone is interested in the practical applications of ice containment, I worked in a lab researching this stuff for a couple years, so read on. It turns out that if you bring water under 0°C in a suitably indeformable chamber, the pressure becomes too high for the water to completely freeze (we’re talking high subzero temperatures > -20°C, not as cold as liquid nitrogen’s -196°C). This leaves two phases, one liquid and one solid, inside the chamber. What’s great about this is we can use the subzero liquid phase to hold sensitive biological material, like a transplantable organ. This keeps the organ much colder than you can keep it on ice (and therefore more fresh), you don’t risk destroying it by ice forming inside it, and you don’t need to submerge it in toxic cryoprotectants. All in all, confining freezing water can help organs last longer and be transported farther to help save lives. It’s neat stuff and we think it’s one of the most promising technologies to address the massive organ shortage in the world. Google “Isochoric (constant volume) Cryopreservation” for more info, including the design of chambers that can actually prevent ice from expanding ;) Also much like in this video, most of my research was conducted by throwing our very expensive pressure vessels in liquid nitrogen to find out what happens. We managed to blow up one machined from a solid block of titanium, ice is serious stuff... Happy to try answer questions if you have any!

May I suggest that you use a dye in the water to easily detect leaks when submersed in the liquid nitrogen. Plus it would look really cool when it explodes

Great video, thanks! It would be interesting to repeat the experiment with simply putting the cylinder in the home fridge freezer.

Very educational!

I expected the threads to fail first honestly. Had that happen with a lot of threaded pipe I've worked with. The caps are most likely cast though, so naturally more brittle. You can crack them with a decently heavy hammer, so it's not too surprising it failed first at that cold of a temperature.

Well the caps were cast, you should do it again with machined ones

This was neat! See, I always thought water just wouldn't freeze under "unlimited" pressure, aka pressure from a very rigid container. But according to you that's actually not the case which is fascinating.

I really wanna print that chart and frame it on my wall. It’s fascinating.

Depending on the type of steel, it can get VERY brittle at cold temperatures--no need to get to liquid nitrogen temperatures.

Fun fact! These superdense ice phases are the result of a balancing patch to the physics engine really early in the game's history. Without, it was possible to apply infinite pressure using this method, which was too overpowered.

I work in northern Canada on power boiler maintenance. We had a boiler shut down by accident when it was -30 C . The boiler water header which was a 1 inch thick certified pressure vessel split the full length once it froze. Incredible forces at play!!

Love it. Been wondering this for years lol

Different type of ice you say? I think we might need a video on that subject alone.

Way back in my high school physics book, the experiment was with a steel sphere about 5 inch outer diameter with a 1 inch thick wall. The sphere did split open, and not at the plug.

Thats amazing... I wasn't expecting that

Very *cool* video!

yes, the water is expanding, but the iron is shrinking due to the cold too.

4:38 forbidden fleshlight.

That's awesome and informative

It would be interesting to hear more about the different types of ice

I'd quite like to see a string of ever stronger means to contain it. Even knowing it will never work, I'd still be very interested in the various means by which it fails. Once again Action lab guy, you have inspired me! Keep them coming bud! 😎

Reminds me of when I was a kid and an unopened can of soda got left in the car overnight during a freeze. Came back the next day and it was all over the inside of the car. 😆

Hey this actually gives me a SUPER COOL IDEA !! The RMS Titanic operated because it had 3 main engines... 2 double acting, 4 cylinder triple explansion steam engines and one low pressure parson turbine... What if you could make a "sterling engine" that used the transiton of water from the different phases in the ice direction to extract energy from the fluid instead of water to steam? So the pistons have an insanely huge amount of torque as the water cools into ice and expands the piston, to repeat the process again?? It would be interesting and super efficient because you are using the temperature difference between a super cold source and room temperature rather than a boiler

thanks for saving us at the last second with the blast shield!!! ❤❤❤❤

4:20 Great timing on the shield. Also, it was more than I expected.

That’s something really informative u have such an amazing channel

Shorts are cool but I have the attention span to be able to watch your longer videos. Keep them up

Burst pipes buried too shallow or left charged with water in the open such as sprinkler systems in winter is a problem for us with cold winters. In 1971, I was in Navy boot camp. We had to go out to a desert area to practice ship firefighting procedures. It got down to a record 22 deg. F that night. We were huddled around a fire to warm us when a demo marine strainer went flying 4 feet from its mount. A column of 3" of ice protruded from the pipe and was still expanding up. Half of us were from northern climes and knew what happened.

Actually there are two competing forces. While the ice tries to expand, the metal container reduces its size as temperature goes lower. Thats why the pressure inside becomes much higher than what the ice can do alone.

I want to see this experiment with Beyond the Press's 2" thick steel box...

Awesome content bro

I watch these videos every night in bed before i go to sleep lol. All started when i saw you on KZfaq thanks for the education, and answers to life’s questions!

Dude, I love you. I'm a science fanboy and I've watched probably every video you've done and never expected "boom science" from you but you've made me remember how cool science is without just blowing up a bunch of stuff. Not gonna lie though, this was pretty cool. Bravo. Good show ol' chap.

I learned something, sir. Thank you!

Pretty cool!. You placed that blast shield just in time. Bet you had to change your shorts though lol. Surprised me.