# Cool trick with dry ice **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 30, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558 "2008-01-30T05:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/21 "2008-01-31T21:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Take a 2 liter plastic drink bottle. Fill it about 1/3 full with water. Drop a few small pieces of dry ice into the bottle and quickly close the cap tightly. Throw the bottle and stay away. Pressure will build inside of the bottle until it explodes and sounds a lot like a shotgun. A few of those strategically placed could probably close down a city these days. [/QUOTE] It’s a felony in VA. Oh, having stuck my head in a up-right freezer of dry ice–think of the worse carbonated beverage burb through your nose. It was like acid…mucousal acid. Yeah, that’s it, mucousal acid… ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/22 "2008-01-31T22:03:58Z")
“burb” should be “burp” :o ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/23 "2008-01-31T23:11:34Z")
[QUOTE=appleciders] A little chunk of dry ice in any beverage chills the hell out of it, makes it smoke gently, and carbonates it. So using it to chill carbonated soda makes it foam over, instantly and uncontrollably. [/QUOTE] I’ve tried this, and I don’t think it carbonates it at all. What happened was that after the dry ice was completely gone, the soda was flat. So the bubbling from the dry ice just allowed the dissolved CO[sub]2[/sub] to come out of the solution, no different from breathing out through a straw into the soda. Dry ice will carbonate and acidify plain water a bit. I remember a Mr. Wizard demonstration that showed this. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/24 "2008-02-01T00:55:55Z")
[QUOTE=user\_hostile] It’s a felony in VA. [/QUOTE] Damn. It seems like 60+% of the things I did in my youth are now felonies in most states. It is going to be hard to come up with activities to do with my daughters when they get a little older. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/25 "2008-02-01T01:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] I’ve tried this, and I don’t think it carbonates it at all. What happened was that after the dry ice was completely gone, the soda was flat. So the bubbling from the dry ice just allowed the dissolved CO[sub]2[/sub] to come out of the solution, no different from breathing out through a straw into the soda. Dry ice will carbonate and acidify plain water a bit. I remember a Mr. Wizard demonstration that showed this. [/QUOTE] If you’re putting dry ice in drinks, make absolutely sure that it’s completely evaporated before drinking. Or else you might do what my husband did back in college: A house party he went to had dry ice chunks in their big container of mixed booze “punch”, and some of the small pieces became encased in a shell of regular ice. He unknowingly swallowed a little piece when he chugged a glass. The dry ice sublimated into a decent amount of carbon dioxide, producing vomiting as his stomach reacted to this, and also producing a burn on the inside of his stomach that became an ulcer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/26 "2008-02-02T03:29:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m curious what you could do that would transfer heat rapidly out of your membranes into the nitrogen without vaporizing it. This isn’t rhetorical or argumentative - maybe you can upset the effect - I just don’t know how, and haven’t heard of anybody doing it. But, then, as I said, I do feel pretty skeevy about swallowing it. “I didn’t inhale.” I’m thinking mainly about hiccuping or something and swallowing it. In that case, it will very rapidly manage to collapse that vapor and leave you with a cold-burned esophagus or stomache. I’ve spent years handling LN2 – it’s essential for cold traps in vacuum systems and for the operation of certain devices. I didn’t wea gloves – the nitrogen bounces off pretty easuily, and I’ve done my share of experimenting. But I never felt comfortable with the idea of putting it in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/27 "2008-02-02T13:03:56Z")
\> I didn’t wea gloves – the nitrogen bounces off pretty easuily Any worries about touching cold solids and freezing to them? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/28 "2008-02-03T01:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Any worries about touching cold solids and freezing to them? > > Napier > View Public Profile > Send a private message to Napier > Find all posts by Napier Nope – never had a problem with that. I DID know people who held LN2 in the hollow of their hand too long, had the vapor barrier go away, and end up with a nasty palm burn, though. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/29 "2008-02-03T02:37:07Z")
Where does one buy dry ice? Can you just get it in a store? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558/30 "2008-02-03T02:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=missbunny] Where does one buy dry ice? Can you just get it in a store? [/QUOTE] As long as we’re all advocating felonies, my method is to cause a major power outage and then wait for the government to hand out dry ice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-trick-with-dry-ice/435558.md?page=1)