"Fe2O3 + Al2 + Heat = AWESOME!!!"

From the invitation Toby made for his "Pyro and Ice" birthday party.

17 liters of liquid nitrogen, some rust and powdered aluminum can make for quite a fun evening for a bunch of boys (and a couple of sisters).

Here is Toby dipping (yes, dipping) his hand into the liquid nitrogen.

We did a few demonstrations with the liquid nitrogen, such as putting balloons in, watching them shrink flat, and then taking them out and watching them reinflate. I'll post some videos when I get it edited.

This is a light bulb, without the bulb. It is just an exposed filament. If you stick it in the liquid nitrogen, it can light up without burning up the filament, because it is cold, and there is no oxygen. The filament also boils the nitrogen nicely when the light is on.

The "if you freeze a banana, you can use it like a hammer" demonstration failed miserably.

We did some more thermite, which is always spectacular. We put a board under the frying pan this time, which kept the molten iron from seeping into the lawn like last time. This spot of grass may never grow back.

Pan-o-molten-iron.