[dorkbotsea-blabber] super cold liquid from compressed air cans

[rich at spambutcher.com]

I went to the weird science picnic today - Bill Beaty did a trick using 
dry ice to cool rubbing alcohol to make a super cold liquid - which 
could be used for liquid-nitrogen like tricks (shattering flowers, etc).

got inspired and played around a bit...

if you turn a can of compressed air upside down and spray it into a 
styrofoam cup - it'll quickly get cold enough so the gas won't evaporate 
- and you'll get a cup full of very cold Difluoroethane or something 
similar.

in the case of Difluoroethane it would have to be at least -25c - but 
maybe colder to to evaporation.

I tried it - and it's cold enough for the shattering flower trick to 
work pretty well...

it also works if you spray it into rubbing alcohol (use 99%) - you'll 
get more liquid this way - but it may not be quite as cold.