Cryogenics studies extremely low temperatures, while cryonics preserves human bodies after death for future revival. Cryogenics has practical applications, such as preserving food and blocking water flow, while cryonics is popular in the futurist community. The process involves vitrification to avoid ice crystal expansion. Whether it works remains to be seen.
Cryogenics is the scientific study or production of extremely low temperatures (below -150°C, -238°F or 123K), while cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of human beings soon after the heartbeat ceases in prediction of future survival.
The science of low temperatures is very important to various domains of technology: During World War II, metals cooled to extremely low temperatures were found to be more durable in the field, a process called cryogenic hardening. Liquid nitrogen was then, as it is now, the most commonly used cryogenic agent, as it has a temperature below -320°F (-196°C, 77K). When even lower temperatures are required, liquid helium is used, with a temperature lower than 3 K.
Cryogenics has many practical applications: in preserving food products or biological samples, blocking the flow of water in pipes so they can be worked on, in areas where a tap is inaccessible, a coolant for extremely sensitive sensors or overclocked computers , cooling medium for processing certain alloys and cryotherapy such as wart removal. Cryonics is also an application of cryogenics, but the two are certainly not the same.
Cryonics is popular in the futurist community as a method of preservation for a possible future revival. In popular wisdom, when the heart stopped, a person was called dead. But modern medicine allows for the awakening of those with a stopped heart, so the definition of death has generally been redefined as cessation of brain activity. Proponents of cryonics go one step further, claiming that if the pattern of our neural interconnections (which encodes our personality, memories, emotions, everything) is frozen at extremely low temperatures, then they won’t degrade and the person shouldn’t be defined as “dead” per se. Given sufficiently advanced technology, the patient could be warmed to room temperature and their metabolism restarted.
There are examples of this in nature: some frogs can freeze during the winter and come back to life during the summer. The cryonics process was developed so that the expansion of ice crystals is not a problem: A process called vitrification completely avoids the creation of ice. Using flash freezing, the brain freezes into a plastic-like substance.
Whether or not cryonics ultimately works remains to be seen. But for now: Make sure you know the difference between cryonics and cryogenics.
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