ELi5: How is liquid nitrogen super cold and in the form of liquid when the container itself is in a room temperature environment?

Question

ELi5: How is liquid nitrogen super cold and in the form of liquid when the container itself is in a room temperature environment?

In: 0

Answer 1

The outside of the container is room temperature, or a bit lower then room temperature. The inside of the container is the same temperature as the liquid nitrogen, or maybe a bit higher. The walls of these containers are built of mostly insulating materials, mostly vacuum. So there is very little energy transfer from the outside of the container to the inside. This means that the ambient air is able to heat up the container to room temperature without it heating up the inside of the container and boiling the liquid nitrogen.