What is dry ice?

Question

Why does it stick to your hands? Help!

Answer 1

solid carbon dioxide

Answer 2

Dry ice is a genericized trademark for solid (frozen) carbon dioxide. The term was made in 1925 by Prest Air Devices, founded in Long Island City, New York in 1923.[1] The name refers to the fact that under normal atmospheric pressure, solid CO2 sublimates, or changes directly into a gas without passing through a wet liquid phase. As a general rule, dry ice will sublimate at a rate of five to ten pounds every 24 hours in a typical ice chest.

Dry ice requires special precautions when handling. It is cold enough to cause impotence injury if handled without gloves. It constantly produces carbon dioxide gas, so it cannot be stored in a light duty sealed container as the pressure buildup will quickly cause the container to explode (see dry ice bomb). The sublimated gas must be ventilated; otherwise, it may fill the enclosed space and create a suffocation hazard. Special care for ventilating vehicles is needed as well because of the small space. People who handle dry ice should also be aware that carbon dioxide is more dense than air and will sink to the floor. Some markets require those purchasing dry ice to be 18 years of age or older.

Answer 3

Alright, dry ice is solid carbon dioxide...Basically it's frozen carbon dioxide, but who cares. Oh and if didn't already know carbon monoxide is the bad stuff, I couldn't figure that out for a while. It sticks to your hands because it freezes the moisture on your hands to it becuase it's really cold. I'm gettin' the impression that you've already touched dry ice and figured out that it would "stick" to your hands, but for future refrence touching dry ice hurts, so you might not wanna try it.

Answer 4

What dry ice is, is carbon dioxide, that has been cooled to -270 degrees farenhight. Carbon Dioxide is a common gas that exsits in the air that we breath. It is often refered to as " green house gases", or the " green house affect. It is what plants breath. Why it sticks to your hands is because, the rapid warming of the gas causes it to stick much like sticking your tongue on a flag pole in winter. Same effect.

Answer 5

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It sticks because this is a molecular characteristic of this particular compound. David S, above me, explained it in simpler terms and will be easier for you to understand. Removing it is a simple matter of washing it off.

Answer 6

Dry Ice is frozen C02. It's dry because when it melts, it sublimates directly into a gas.

It sticks to you for the same reason a cold, dry pole sticks to you. The moisture on your skin creates a bridge that acts like adhesion.

Answer 7

Dry ice is solid CO2 if I'm not mistaken. Like when you get your tongue stuck to a cold pole. Well, dry ice is MUCH colder and will really mess up any appendage that is stuck to it for too long because it will freeze it through very quickly.

Answer 8

Dry ice

Dry ice is a genericized trademark for solid (frozen) carbon dioxide. The term was made in 1925 by Prest Air Devices, founded in Long Island City, New York in 1923.[1] The name refers to the fact that under normal atmospheric pressure, solid CO2 sublimates, or changes directly into a gas without passing through a wet liquid phase. As a general rule, dry ice will sublimate at a rate of five to ten pounds every 24 hours in a typical ice chest.

Dry ice is produced by compressing carbon dioxide gas to a liquid form, removing the heat produced by the compression (see Charles's law), and then letting the liquid carbon dioxide expand quickly. This expansion and the high-speed evaporation of carbon dioxide gas cools the remainder of the liquid down to the melting point, where some of the CO2 freezes into 'snow,' which is then compressed into pellets or blocks. The freezing point of CO2 is -109.3 °F or -78.5 °C.

Dry ice has many industrial uses, including
Dry ice used to cool drinks in Central Park.(New York City, New York, U.S.)
Dry ice used to cool drinks in Central Park.
(New York City, New York, U.S.)

* Cooling foodstuffs, biological samples, and other perishable items, particularly for shipment.
* Producing dry ice fog for special effects. When dry ice is put into contact with water vapour particles, the frozen carbon dioxide sublimates into a mixture of cold carbon dioxide gas and cold humid air. This causes condensation and the formation of fog (see: fog machine). The use of warm water speeds up sublimation and leads to more vigorous production of fog.
* Tiny pellets of dry ice (instead of sand) are shot at a surface to be cleaned. Dry ice is not as hard as sand, but it speeds processing by sublimating to a gas and does not produce nearly as much lung-damaging dust.
* Increasing precipitation from existing clouds or decreasing cloud thickness by cloud seeding.[2]
* Producing carbon dioxide gas as needed in such systems as the fuel tank inerting system in the B-47 Stratojet aircraft.
* Brass or other metallic bushings are buried in dry ice to shrink them so they will fit inside a machined hole. When the bushing warms back up, it expands and makes an extremely tight fit.
* As a cooling supplement for high power output computer central processing units or other types of hardware. Typically used by hobbyists when performing overclocking.
* A rudimentary cloud chamber can be built using dry ice to supercool alcohol vapor.

Dry ice requires special precautions when handling. It is cold enough to cause impotence injury if handled without gloves. It constantly produces carbon dioxide gas, so it cannot be stored in a light duty sealed container as the pressure buildup will quickly cause the container to explode (see dry ice bomb). The sublimated gas must be ventilated; otherwise, it may fill the enclosed space and create a suffocation hazard. Special care for ventilating vehicles is needed as well because of the small space. People who handle dry ice should also be aware that carbon dioxide is more dense than air and will sink to the floor. Some markets require those purchasing dry ice to be 18 years of age or older.


I hope this helps!! =)

Answer 9

um...dry ice doesn't stick to hand, it burns your hands. seriously, it's very dangerous to touch dry ice with your skin...

it's frozen carbon dioxide

Answer 10

Solid carbon dioxide. It freezes to the moisture in your skin and as a result, ''sticks to your hands''.

Answer 11

dry ice is a freeze dried ice it 130 degrees below freezing and it will burn you fast it sticks to you skin because it is freazing the live cells in you fingers