Recently, little ice cream shops have been popping everywhere. But… they aren’t your everyday ice cream shops. They make fresh ice cream on the spot with liquid nitrogen. Here’s how:

The boiling point of liquid nitrogen is -195.8 degrees Celsius. This means it is stored in containers of at least -198 degrees Celsius or lower. This means that as soon as liquid nitrogen hits room temperature, it vaporizes. This is because room temperature is typically around 22 C, which is about 220 degrees hotter than the boiling point.

This is the reason for the vapor.

Additionally, the liquid nitrogen is pressurized and released at a high pressure so the liquid nitrogen can hit the liquid it is trying to freeze before it vaporizes. This is the reason for the sound you hear when the liquid nitrogen hose is being used.

So there you go! It isn’t too complicated, and it’s super cool!

For those of you who don’t live in Tallahassee, here is a link to the SubZero Ice Cream Shop to find a store near you: https://www.subzeroicecream.com/

Unfortunately noles… we don’t have one of these cool places yet.