Dry ice dances

Cold but el­e­gant chem­i­cal dances!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

At­ten­tion! All ex­per­i­ments are per­formed by pro­fes­sion­als. Do not at­tempt.

Process de­scrip­tion

Dry ice is sol­id car­bon diox­ide at a tem­per­a­ture low­er than –78 °С (–108 °F). But the room’s tem­per­a­ture is about ~100 °С (~200 °F) high­er! Un­der these con­di­tions, the sol­id car­bon diox­ide rapid­ly be­comes gaseous, which leads to the for­ma­tion of gaseous lay­ers un­der its sol­id pieces. This caus­es the sol­id pieces to re­main on the wa­ter’s sur­face! Hov­er­crafts op­er­ate on a sim­i­lar prin­ci­ple.

More fun ex­per­i­ments await you in the MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion!