Is homemade dry ice easy to make? We give you 5 simple and easy steps with pictures. What's more, find some cool things to do with dry ice here.
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Actually you can quite safely hold dry ice in your bare hands, and it is not harmful to get in your mouth or swallow. The fact that it is SO much colder than room and body temperature, and so readily sublimates to gas, is what protects you. Holding baseball-sized chunks or smaller, loosely in your hands causes no pain or harm, as long as you don't squeeze too hard. The rapidly escaping gas creates a protective layer. But holding a very large chunks, or squeezing hard, will cause enough pain that you drop it (but usually not enough to cause damage). Likewise, putting it in your mouth causes furious gasious release upon contact with warm saliva, making it basically impossible to damage your mouth. You will however be producing a high volume of CO2 in your mouth, so leave your mouth open but breath through your nose. Too much CO2 can cause a mild temporary stinging sensation. (Well it can also kill you, but you'd feel two separate but very strong effects long before death - a burning sensation as carbonic acid is created in mucosal tissues, and our hardwired "suffocation" reflex due to CO2 toxicity. The CO2 you inhale from eating dry ice is in concentrated short bursts and won't kill you.) I'm not suggesting anyone go out of their way to eat dry ice. But I've done it myself numerous times, and it is completely harmless (if a little alarming at first due to the "energetic" release of CO2 gas inside your mouth). HOWEVER - BEWARE: Picking up dry ice that is in a thin paper or plastic bag, or a metal container, with your bare hands, WILL cause "burns" (frostbite). The reason is that the plastic, paper, or highly conductive metal will be made extremely cold by the ice, and unlike the dry ice itself, won't form a protective gas layer when handled. Result: potentially severe burns. (Especially with metal. Wear gloves!)
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This is great! I especially like the frozen bubble idea. But, unfortunately, it's a LOT cheaper to buy dry ice than it is to buy the materials and make it at home.
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Hey! This is so awesome, I'm just wondering, what is the science behind this?
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Two notes about the first tip, which mentions the temperature of dry ice. First, I think you meant to specify a negative temperature rather than the positive one mentioned. Second, the real temperature at which dry ice forms is ?78.5 °C or ?109.3 °F (at normal atmospheric pressure). Other than that, this is a nice little tutorial.
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