You see it on Tv and in films and doesn’t it look fascinating and endearing, the way that this mesmerizing smoke rises off of it majestically, no one would think that it is so dangerous. You may see it in films and wish you could touch it because it looks so much more magnificent and mystical than the ice you would find in your freezer or at the bottom of your drink.
But dry ice is much like a mystical siren at sea, it draws you in by its fantastical beauty but it will only hurt you and sink your ship, so to speak. But why? What is it about dry ice that makes it so different and so much more dangerous than the ice we are used to every day?
What is Dry Ice?
Dry ice is made from frozen Carbon Dioxide. It possesses the feature of sublimation, meaning that as it melts it instantly turns into a gas, rather than a liquid as water-based ices do.
Normal ice too can evaporate into a gas but this takes a lot of heat to transfer it from ice to water to evaporated gas. Dry ice does not need heat nor time, it goes instantly from solid to gas.
While it looks cold, it is very dangerous to touch, as it has the potential to cause severe burns. Its surface temperature is around -109 degrees Fahrenheit, so if you touch it directly you can severely damage your skin through ice burns.
How is it made?
Dry Ice is unlike normal ice. Regular ice is made from freezing and solidifying water, whereas dry ice is made by liquifying Co2 and injecting it into a tank where it is frozen at -109 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is then compressed into a solid ice form, which can be made into pelts or into solid large ice blocks, which can be made into sculptures or other elements for special occasions or industrial requirements.
This ice won’t melt as a liquid, rather, it will just evaporate into Co2 gas, returning to its original state before it was frozen, much like ice water returns to water when it meets heat.
It was first discovered in the 1900s but wasn’t commercialized until the 1920s and now it’s used, more than you may think.
What is it used for?
Dry ice has many uses in many different industries, it is used in food and agriculture to prevent food from spoiling during transit. Due to the exceptional cold of dry ice it prevents any bacterial growth and slows any potential decay, it acts a bit like a freezer in this way, without the complications of actually using a freezer.
Another use for it is in the entertainment industry, they use it to create smokes and smogs, you may often see this in theatres, it is much more useful to use dry ice than to risk the use of an open flame.
While dry ice still poses some dangers, especially for an untrained person who may touch it, it is still much safer than the risks an open flame in an entertainment venue may pose, where dry ice is only unsafe to the person who is working with it, fire is a risk to all in the venue, so it is used as a safer substitute.
Pest control also uses it, they use it to force gophers out of their holes, which removes the pests and makes closing up the hole which the pests came from, without doing any damage to wildlife. Dry ice has become a more wildlife-friendly way to manage pest control than other alternatives that could endanger the wildlife or kill them.
Other alternative uses for dry ice are as a mosquito repellant and cleaning delicate electronics without having to use corrosive elements. Of course, it is also used in events or celebrations for aesthetics, as you may see in the movies, but this is simply one of many uses this element has.
Do I touch it?
It is very inadvisable to touch it due to the extremely cold temperature of -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. When you touch it the heat from your hand and your body gets absorbed by the ice.
If you were, however, to briefly poke it, you would simply get the sensation of it being ‘very cold’. If you were to hold your hand on it, you would find complications and you would end up with severe frostbite very quickly which would damage your skin much like a serious burn.
Dry ice can lead to severe frostbite within 5 seconds of touching it, this is the equivalent of sitting in the coldest part of the arctic for five to ten minutes during the winter, depending on your clothing.
In the case that you were to touch dry ice for 5 seconds and got severe frostbite, your hand or whatever body part touched the ice would lose blood supply and the tissue may die which would cause gangrene. You may need surgery to remove the dead tissue or in serious cases, there may be a need for amputation.
What does it feel like?
To satisfy your curiosity without touching it and risking your limbs, to know what it feels like we have a brief idea for you. It does not feel like normal ice, as in, it is not wet.
In fact, if you were to touch dry ice, you would expect something that feels much like extremely cold styrofoam, rather crunchy and dry rather than slick and wet.
You would also be able to feel the carbon dioxide sublimating into gas form, the air around you would also be very cold.
Being extremely close to dry ice may even give you a vague idea of what it would be like to walk the plains of Antarctica, as in the southern pole, the air can sometimes get so cold that the Co2 in the air turns into dry ice making it very hard to breathe, without this Co2 our brains don’t know what to take a breath.
It is advisable, always to stay away from dry ice, appreciate it from afar but don’t lay your hands on it unless you are wearing heavy protective gear and are trained for it.