- The sublimation process can be dramatic to witness. Pull the opening wide on an uninflated balloon. Be sure to wear gloves as dry ice can create a painful freezer burn if it comes into contact with the skin. Drop a couple of chunks of dry ice into the balloon and then tie it shut. Place the balloon into a swimming pool or bathtub with warm water and stand back. The balloon will start to inflate as the dry ice turns to gas, causing it to float back to the surface and finally burst.
- All of those spooky white clouds that drift near ground level in movies are made from dry ice. Use a pitcher or large container filled with warm water and drop in a portion of dry ice. The heat will start the sublimation process and a creepy white smoke will start to drift off of the water surface and bubble and spill over the top of the container. Try different sizes of dry ice to create more or less smoke.
- One pound of dry ice when it sublimates can produce up to 125 two-liter bottles worth of gas. This is much more volume than the frozen form takes up. Line up several used and empty film canisters with the tops off and drop a small chunk of dry ice into each one, and then put all the lids back on. Stand back and wait as the gas expands inside each canister and the lids start to fire off several feet as your artillery barrage begins.
- For this experiment you will need a block of dry ice and a spoon. Heat the spoon in hot water and then touch it to the block. The spoon will appear to be screaming or singing; the instant it touches the dry ice sublimation will occur and the resulting gas will force the spoon off the block. Sublimation stops when the spoon no longer is making contact, but then the spoon falls back to the ice and it begins again. This happens so fast that the molecules in the spoon vibrate and create noise.
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