When I tell this tale to co-workers they NEVER believe that I am telling the truth. After all, surely no one would do something so stupid, right?

It really happenned, I know one witness I could dig up if I had to.

It happened in a physics lab course I was taking, we had finished the lab early and had several liters of liquid nitrogen left over. We were playing with it and at one point we filled a diet pepsi can with liquid nitrogen.

We watced as it boiled and frost covered the can- liquid oxygen condensed on the side of the can...

Someone jokingly dared one of the students to stick their tounge on the can- someone brought up the classic movie 'A christmas story' and the 'double dog dare' in which a kid is dared to stick his tounge on a frozen flagpole. so one of the students jokingly 'double dog dared' another student to stick their tounge on the can. It was just a joke, but the student leaned over and stuck out his tounge- we all assumed he was putting us on, so we laughed... but then he touched his tounge to the can- we fell silent and our eyes went wide. The moron had actually done it!!!

He immediately started grunting, pulling back away from the can and succeeded only in dragging the can across the table with his tounge. He then started to panic and stood up- the can, full of liquid nitrogen, stayed on his tounge- he shook his head violently and LN2 splashed all overhis tounge stretched out by the can.

he then made another mistake- he tried instinctively to pull his toung back into his mouth. It froze to his lips. He reached up and smacked the can hard and it broke free- taking many bits of tounge and lip with it...

he ran to the bathroom to staunch the blood- when he returned he tried to say it was no worse than eating a hot pizza- the frozen tastebuds on the side of the can indicated it was MUCH worse than a hot pizza.

So yes, it REALLY happened and was one of the most stunningly stupid things I have seen- also the most funny....