Liquid Nitrogen & Rubber Experiment

What happens when you put rubber in liquid nitrogen? Museum Educator Jeannine demonstrates the physics of this super cold science experiment in this educational video. Because liquid nitrogen is -320 degrees Fahrenheit, the room temperature rubber loses heat to it, causing the liquid nitrogen to boil. But once the boiling stops, we know the rubber has reached the temperature of liquid nitrogen. When removed from the liquid nitrogen, the rubber tube has changed to be brittle and stiff like glass, because the long chains of repeating molecules that would usually make it stretchy and flexible have become rigid due to the cold temperatures.