How to Make Dry Ice

Dry ice is created when carbon dioxide is compressed and freezes. The ice is very cold and should never be brought into direct contact with humans. However, the ice is a great tool to keep other things cold and for the creation of a fog or cloud at special events. You need a large quantity of dry eyes your best option is to buy it from a shop. But if you only need a little bit there are some things that you can do at home to make dry ice. Simply follow these steps on how to make dry ice.

The materials you will need to make dry ice at home are a carbon dioxide extinguisher, a small bag made of cloth, adhesive tape, gloves and tongs.

You must prepare yourself before trying to handle dry ice. Dry ice is dangerous and can damage your skin. Make sure to avoid touching the dry ice unless you have the gloves on and are using the tongs. Connect the cloth bag to the carbon dioxide extinguisher. Use adhesive tape to hold the bag around the mouth of the extinguisher.

Press the extinguisher to release it. The compressed carbon dioxide will quickly spray into the cloth bag. Once the extinguisher has been used, open the bag and you should find within it a small amount of white dust that looks like snow. This is dry ice. Remember that it will continue to evaporate at this point so you should use it quickly. If you are in any doubt or disbelief of its power to freeze and the danger to direct human touch, put a small piece of fruit inside and see the results – it will freeze within seconds! You don’t want this to happen to your hand!

To create larger quantities of dry ice, high pressure and extremely low temperatures are needed, approximately -109° F. The pressure required to compress the carbon dioxide into a solid state is not something that you can do at home, unless of course you are a mad scientist. If you are not, you can always hire a factory which makes dry ice or simply purchase the dry ice from a local commerce.