I got this idea a few yrs ago at my dads lab. we were wathcing this vietnam movie while freezing stuff in liquid nitrogen and smashing 'em with a hammer. The movie had flamethrowers and so i got to thinking. Why not take the same basic idea and fuction of a standard flamethrower and convert the idea over to spray an area with liquid nitrogen. so heres how it goes... You carry a refrigerated container filled with liquid nitrogen on your back. A hose connects it to a rife-like device that channels it into a short hard spray (much like a pressure washer). Then when the target is frozen, another component beneath the liquid nitrogen port, fires a ball bearing at a few hundred mph into the frozen mass effectivly shattering it. It could also be used to break through obstacles such as barricades, metal doors, barbed wire, walls etc.. It could even be utilized as an "anti-mine" device. By simply freezing the ground ahead of you, any active explosives would be rendered useless by the intense cold. The user of a weapon such as this would need to wear a protective suit capable of withstanding extreme temperatures; yet, at the same time, granting some level of protection against bullets, shrapnel and heat. IMO the hardest parts would be: a). Designing a container capable of keeping the liquid nitrogen cold for long periods of time while in the field. b). Finding a way to refill the containers safly. And c). Minimizing the risk of accidents to allies and innocents.-- bovinemilk, Feb 19 2004 Mr. Freeze http://www.jeje.nu/...d/batman/bilder.htmDC Comics already iced this idea. [jurist, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] "By simply freezing the ground ahead of you, any active explosives would be rendered useless by the intense cold."
You're dangerously wrong there.
Also, you may find that there's a radically greater heat transfer between air and a liquid mist than there is between air and a pool of same liquid. Your "cold thrower" might be an effective cool wind generator, but that would be about it.-- quarterbaker, Feb 19 2004 suffer cold? how apt-- po, Feb 19 2004 i just read up on the Leidenfrost effect and it presents some large problems. Anyone have some suggestions on how to improve the idea?-- bovinemilk, Feb 19 2004 Let me get this right - you splash your opponent with a high pressure stream of liquid nitrogen, then, fire a ball bearing at them, shattering them to a million little bits? This sounds horribly violent, yet really, really cool [+]-- 1st2know, Feb 19 2004 The most evil thing i've read in weeks. Keep up the good work.-- TheMadScientist, Feb 20 2004 You'd need something more like a fire hose.-- Detly, Feb 20 2004 It would take about a 50+ gallon tank to freeze a human solid if you sprayed someone with it.
If you carried the liquid nitro in an other-dimensional tank, it could work.-- DesertFox, May 04 2004 ISTGTIAVG A WIBNI....
Eh, it's a neat idea, but the idea of a "freeze gun" has been going on in Sci-fi forever. As noted, it's already been shown in Batman; Gary Oldman had one in the Fifth Element; Duke Nukem had one in all his games; Unreal Forever has one; etc, etc, etc.
Maybe you couuld develop a quantum (just add quantum/ lasers/fusion/superconductors!) device of some sort that could decelerate atomic vibrations quickly and effectively.
As a close-range last-ditch disposable weapon, this would be devastatingly effective. Just have a small, concealable cylinder of liquid nitrogen connected to a trigger and a valve that couuld "focus" the stream to about three yards. You wouldn't need the ball bearing at all. I think a stream of 70K liquid, full in the face, would be quite enough of a deterrent.
Kind of like pepper spray in its method of use, but infinitely more deadly (really, it is: pepper spray could be considered to have a deadly rating of 0, making this thing infinitely more so!)-- Macwarrior, May 04 2004 random, halfbakery