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Experiments with Dry Ice

Last week we got a package in the mail that said “open immediately – 5 pounds of dry ice included”. I had no clue what was being delivered that required 5 pounds of dry ice. It was ice cream bars that looked delicious, but they were not the highlight of the delivery. The kids and I immediately went to the internet to see what we could do with a 5 pound block of dry ice. Experiments with Dry Ice became our afternoon adventure.

Experiments with Dry Ice

Create Fog

Creating fog with dry ice is the easiest, most common thing to do. You simply fill a container with hot water and drop the dry ice into the water. Immediately you get this really cool fog. This is a cool effect at Halloween parties or used on stage for performances.

dry ice 2

Let the Dry Ice Blow Bubbles

If you fill a container with hot water and then add a bubble solution, you will get a really cool bubble machine. The bubbles just erupt over the side of the container.

experiments with dry ice
Bubble Solution and dry ice

We then wiped bubble solution over the rim of the container and it blew one big bubble (kind of looked like a glass fortune teller).

What we learned

  • NEVER touch dry ice with your hands. You must use gloves! I have never been around dry ice and didn’t know this. I just picked up the block out of the package and was hurting for about 10 minutes. I will never do that again! I am just lucky I didn’t seriously hurt my fingers.
  • We found several instructions for how to make a rocket. This did NOT sound like a safe idea. We passed on anything that looked like it could cause injury. In hind sight, I probably should not have used a glass vase for some of the experiments. In the future, if we do more experiments with dry ice, we will use a heavy plastic bowl for everything.
Always use gloves to handle dry ice.
Always use gloves to handle dry ice.

Links for Ideas

We found ideas for a dry ice crystal ball and a dry ice bubble just by doing a quick google search. I’m sure there are many more experiments with dry ice that we could have tried.

Dry Ice can create some really cool effects but has to be handled carefully. I know that the kids and I sure enjoyed our afternoon.

Have you ever done any experiments with dry ice? What’s your best experiences? I’d love to hear!

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