Are you familiar with liquid air? As described by the Oakes Times in 1911, liquid air could freeze a man’s finger in less than a minute, convert steam into snow-like ice, cause steel to burn a dazzling color, and it could even be used as a local anesthetic by surgeons. Liquid air is the liquid state of air obtained by compressing purified air and cooling it to less than the boiling point of nitrogen and oxygen. It has many fascinating uses.
On this date in 1901, students in Fargo were taught about liquid air, which was first produced by Polish scientists in 1883. As this new technology was explored, more uses were discovered. In 1905 North Dakota residents read in a Williston Graphic article about an option for cooling their homes with liquid air. The inventors claimed it would cost far less than the popular cooling systems of the time. They also claimed to have perfected the system, intending to build a plant that would manufacture liquid air round the clock. Pitched to the typical housewife of time, they promised that a growing popularity of liquid air cooling would eventually make it possible for home delivery in insulated containers. The container would be attached to pipes that led to an overhead coil, which would be “as ornamental and inconspicuous as possible,” and cost no more than the average heating pipes.
Despite the optimism, the cooling system never got off the ground. However, this did not quell interest in this fascinating fluid. A new application is for cryogenic energy storage. Since liquid air takes up one-thousandth of the volume of the gas, it expands massively as it warms. That increase in volume and pressure can drive turbines to generate electricity. So, surplus energy from wind, solar, or other sources can be stored as liquid air, to be released on those dark and windless nights.
Dakota Datebook by Olivia Burmeister
Sources:
- Williston Graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, February 09, 1905, Image 8
- Bismarck Daily Tribune. [volume], December 14, 1901, Image 2
- The Oakes Times. [volume], December 07, 1911, Image 5
- Liquid air Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
