THE STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF DRY ICE ON THE TEMPERATURE OF WATER
Justin Tunley
Cary Academy
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this study was to find out how much the temperature of water would
change over time after Dry Ice was added to it. Dry Ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide
gas is extremely cold and can be used for many different purposes. To do the
experiment, Dry Ice was put into a beaker with 250 (ml) of water and the temperature of
the water was recorded after 1, 2, 3, and 4 (min). It found that the biggest temperature
change happened between 1 (min) and 2 (min). This probably happened because as
the temperature of the water got closer to the temperature of the Dry Ice, it became
harder to drop so it took longer for the temperature to drop further.
INTRODUCTION:
Dry Ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide. It is sometimes referred to as Cardice or Card
Ice. It is colorless, non-flammable, and extremely cold. Dry Ice was first observed in
1834 by a French Chemist by the name of Charles Thilorier. He was the first person to
actually make a solid form of carbon dioxide, which is normally a gas. This discovery
was amazing and in 1924, Dry Ice started being sold commercially. Dry Ice was soon
used by many people for many different purposes. Although Dry Ice is an amazing thing
to use, it can also be very dangerous to handle.
There are many things that can go wrong when using Dry Ice. For example, let’s say it
is Halloween and somebody is using Dry Ice to make fog by putting it into water and
then that person picks up the Dry Ice with their bare hands. The Dry Ice is so cold that
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if it touches human skin it will burn it. A person can also get frost bite from touching Dry
Ice. If someone holds Dry Ice for a long enough time, they can get frost bite and if it is
really bad, they may have to get their finger amputated! Another example would be if
someone is making fog on Halloween in the garage. When Dry Ice is put in water, it
turns from a solid into carbon dioxide gas. If there is too much carbon dioxide gas and
not enough oxygen, they would not be able to breath. This is called asphyxiation. This
can lead to a serious injury, or even death. For these reasons, everyone must be very
careful whenever using Dry Ice. Without the proper equipment, people can get seriously
injured.
1. This is a picture of small pieces of Dry Ice
Dry Ice is extremely cold. It is exactly -109.3F and -78.5C. This is colder than the
average winter day in the South Pole! The South Pole is one of the coldest places on
earth averaging -72F and -58C on a normal day. Dry Ice is so cold, that if it was put in
a freezer to keep cool and left there, the freezer could break because the temperature is
so cold. This is another reason Dry Ice can be very dangerous.
Dry Ice can be used for many different things. This is because Dry Ice is very, very
cold, allowing it to do things that most other objects can’t. This is beneficial for someone
who needs to keep things cold for a long period of time. If someone needs to keep
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something cold for a long period of time and they don’t know what to do, Dry Ice could
be the solution. At the very bottom of the cooler put a layer of regular ice and on top of
that a layer of Dry Ice. Next put about two or three layers of regular ice above that.
Finally, put the item that needs to stay cold on the top. Now the item can last a long
time, probably a couple of days, without the item getting warm. Many companies that
mail fresh food use Dry Ice to keep the food cold while it is being shipped.
Another thing Dry Ice can be used for is to make Dry Ice bombs. Dry Ice bombs can be
used as experiments to show what happens when Dry Ice turns from a solid into a gas.
Dry Ice bombs are when someone makes a water bottle explode using only a single
plastic water bottle, Dry Ice, and water. One should always have the proper safety
equipment such as gloves, tongs, and safety glasses. Also, one should only do it
outside in a wide open space. First, a person must add a little amount of water (maybe
50 ml) to the bottle. Next, they must take a piece of Dry Ice and break it into smaller
pieces with a hammer. The Dry Ice must be small enough to fit in to the hole of the
bottle (the bigger the pieces are, the faster the bottle will explode). Then, the pieces of
Dry Ice should be added to the bottle and the cap put on the bottle tightly. Finally,
whoever is conducting the experiment should run for their life and take cover. The
explosion will be very loud so don’t be too close to the bomb. Also, after the bottle
explodes look out so it doesn’t hit anyone. It may take a few (min) to go off, so if it does
not explode right away, do not walk up to it. The reason the bottle explodes is because
when Dry Ice is added to the water in the bottle, the Dry Ice turns into a gas. When the
Dry Ice turns into a gas it fills up the empty space in the bottle and when there is no
space left in the bottle, the bottle expands and eventually explodes. Children should
only try this experiment when an adult is with them. There are many other uses for Dry
Ice, but those are just a few.
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2. This is another photo of Dry Ice. There are both big and small pieces of Dry Ice
Temperature is how cold or warm something is. Temperature is affected by many
different things including the time of year. Is it sunny out? Is it cloudy out? Is it raining?
These all affect the temperature. This is all because of the sun. If it is sunny out, then
the sun is showing. The more the sun is showing, the more heat goes down to earth.
The more heat that goes down to the earth, the warmer the temperature is. The location
on earth also affects how hot or cold something is. For example, it would be warmer at
the equator than the North Pole during the summer. This is because the sun shines
right on the equator. The sun literally does a circle around the earth following the
equator. The farther away something is from the equator, the less sunlight it gets. The
less sunlight it gets, the colder it will be.
A thermometer is a scientific tool used to help tell what temperature something is. There
are many types of thermometers. Some thermometers (like the thermometers for telling
what temperature it is outside) work just by being exposed to the air. Other
thermometers only work if the end of the thermometer is stuck into the thing being
measured. An example of this thermometer would be the thermometer used on
Thanksgiving to tell when the turkey is done by taking its temperature. After putting the
thermometer into the turkey, the red liquid inside of the thermometer will rise or fall very
slowly. Once the red liquid stops rising or falling, the numbers on the side of the
thermometer which line up with the red liquid is the temperature of the turkey. There
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are two sets of numbers on a thermometer. On the right are degrees Fahrenheit and on
the left are degrees Celsius.
3. This is the process of Sublimation. Sublimation is different from melting
because unlike melting, Sublimation is when an object goes from a solid right to
a gas, skipping the liquid stage. Dry Ice sublimates, not melts.
4. This a picture of a thermometer - a scientific instrument used to find the
temperature of something
An experiment was done earlier by Fiona Wissink of Cary Academy. Fiona did an
experiment on THE STUDY OF THE WAY TEMPERATURE CHANGES WHEN BEING
HELD IN DIFFERENT CUPS. The purpose of her experiment was to find out how the
temperature of a liquid changed when poured into different types of cups. Warm water
was poured into different types of cups to see how much the temperature would
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decrease over a certain period of time. The coffee cup kept the water the warmest for
the longer period of time and the Styrofoam cup kept the water warm for the shortest
period of time.
The Hypothesis created for this experiment is that the longer the Dry Ice is in the water,
the lower the temperature of water will be at the end of the experiment. Also, the longer
the Dry Ice is in the water, the slower the temperature change will be.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The materials used in the experiments were: a computer, temperature probe, hot plate,
pan, water, hand, sink, Dry Ice, gloves, tongs, cooler, plastic beaker, regular ice,
balloons, four Gatorade bottles, triple beam balance, safety glasses and a thermometer.
The first experiment conducted was to see how much the temperature of a beaker of
water would drop after adding Dry Ice. The temperature of the beaker of water was
recorded after 1, 2, 3, and 4 (min). To do this, a piece of Dry Ice that weighed about 30
(g) was dropped into a beaker with 250 (ml) of water. The water was about 20C. There
was already a temperature probe inside the beaker of water. Once the Dry Ice was
dropped into the water, the temperature probe started recording. The temperature probe
recorded the temperature of the water after 1, 2, 3 and 4 (min). This was repeated
three times and the average temperature of the water at 1, 2, 3 and 4 (min) was
recorded.
The second experiment conducted was to find out how long it would take different size
pieces of Dry Ice to sublimate while in boiling water. To do this experiment, a pan with
50 ml of water was placed on a hot plate. Then after the water boiled for about 3 (min),
a piece of Dry Ice was taken out of the cooler and smashed with a hammer until there
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were pieces of Dry Ice that weighed 20 (g), 60 (g), and 80 (g). These were the sizes of
Dry Ice that were used to do this experiment. The 20 (g) piece of Dry Ice was put into
the boiling water and the timer was started. When the 20 (g) piece of Dry Ice was
completely gone, the timer was stopped and the data was recorded. This was repeated
with the 60 (g) and 80 (g) pieces of Dry Ice. The measurements were taken three times
for each size piece of Dry Ice and the average time it took for the Dry Ice to sublimate
was recorded.
The third experiment done was to find out how long it would take a balloon to blow up to
30 (cm) in height attached to a Gatorade bottle using water in the bottle and different
size pieces of Dry Ice. The pieces of Dry Ice that were used were 5 (g), 10 (g) and
20 (g). The 5 (g) piece of Dry Ice was put into the bottle with 50 (ml) of water.
Immediately after the Dry Ice was added, a balloon was put on top of the cap and a
timer was started. Once the balloon got to 30 (cm) high, the timer was stopped and the
data was recorded. This was repeated with the 10 (g) and 20 (g) pieces of Dry Ice. The
measurements were taken three times for each size piece of Dry Ice and the average
time it took to blow up the balloon for each size piece of Dry Ice was recorded.
The fourth and last experiment completed was to find out how big a balloon would blow
up in 4 (min) using a bottle of 50 (ml) of water and different sizes of Dry Ice. The
different sizes of Dry Ice used were 30 (g), 50 (g), and 60 (g). To conduct this
experiment, a piece of Dry Ice was smashed with a hammer until there were pieces of
Dry Ice that weighed 30 (g), 50 (g), and 60 (g). Next, the Gatorade bottle was filled up
with 50 (ml) of water. The 30 (g) piece of Dry Ice was put into the Gatorade bottle and a
balloon was immediately put on top of the cap. A timer was started and when the timer
reached 4 (min), the height was measured in (cm). This was repeated with the 50 (g)
and 60 (g) pieces of Dry Ice. The measurements were taken three times for each size
piece of Dry Ice and the average size of the balloon in (cm) was recorded.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
In the first experiment, the temperature dropped the most between one and two (min).
This is shown in the graph in Fig. 1 because the distance between (min) 1 and (min) 2 is
the greatest. This was expected because the longer the Dry Ice was in the water, the
lower the water temperature would get. Because the water temperature was getting
colder, it took longer for the Dry Ice to make the water colder. This was because the
temperature of water was getting closer to the temperature of the Dry Ice. The graph in
Fig. 1 shows this trend.
20
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Temperature (c)
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Time (min)
5. This graph shows the average water temperature every (min) for four (min),
while Dry Ice was in the water.
In the second experiment, it was found that the more the Dry Ice weighed, the longer it
took to dissolve. This trend can be seen by looking at the graph in Fig. 5 shown below.
As shown in this graph, the more the Dry Ice weighed in (g), the more time it took to
dissolve. The graph shows that it took about 200 (sec) for the 20 (g) piece of Dry Ice to
dissolve, about 450 (sec) for the 60 (g) piece to dissolve, and about 825 (sec) for the 80
(g) pieces to dissolve. This is because, the 80 (g) pieces of Dry Ice are bigger than the
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60 (g) and 40 (g) pieces. This means, it would have to dissolve more actual Dry Ice.
This made it harder for the water to dissolve the Dry Ice.
900
800
700
Time (sec)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
Weight (g)
6. According to the graph, the bigger the piece of Dry Ice, the longer it took to
completely dissolve
In the third experiment, it was found that the bigger the piece of Dry Ice was, the faster
the balloon blew up and the faster it reached 30 (cm) high. This trend can be seen in
Fig. 6. The smaller the piece of Dry Ice was, the longer it took to make the balloon blow
up to 30 (cm) high. This was probably because the smaller the Dry Ice was, the less gas
it gave off and the gas was what made the balloon blow up. So the smaller the piece of
Dry Ice was, the longer it took to the balloon to blow up to 30 (cm).
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45
40
Time (sec)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
Sizes (g) of Dry Ice
7. According to this graph, the bigger the piece of Dry Ice, the faster the balloon
blew up.
In the final experiment it was found that the bigger the piece of Dry Ice was, the more it
blew up in 4 (min). This trend can be seen in Fig. 7. As the pieces of Dry Ice get bigger,
they start to blow up more. This probably happened because the bigger the piece of Dry
Ice was, the more carbon dioxide it contained. And the more carbon dioxide it contained
the more gas it had to give off. The gas that the Dry Ice was giving off was what caused
the balloon to blow up in the first place.
10
50
49
Height (cm)
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Weight (g)
8. As shown in this graph, the bigger the piece of Dry Ice was, the more it blew up
in four (min)
CONCLUSION:
In the original experiment, it was found that the longer the Dry Ice was in the water, the
colder the temperature of the water would become. These results can be important to
the world if someone wanted to use Dry Ice to keep something cold. If they saw the
results of this experiment, they would have an idea of how much Dry Ice to use and how
long Dry Ice would keep things cold. The hypothesis for this experiment was correct that
the longer the Dry Ice was in the water, the colder the water. It was also discovered that
the longer the Dry Ice had been in the water for, the less the temperature changed.
Experiments that could be conducted in the future are things like seeing if how long it
would take a balloon to explode after it is put on top of a Gatorade bottle and the
Gatorade bottle is filled with Dry Ice and water.
CITATIONS:
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Aardvark - Catalyst. The Gale Encyclopedia of Science Second Edition. 2nd ed. 2001.
Print.
"About Temperature." Spark | UCAR Science Education. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
"Carbon Dioxide." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School
Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.
Dry Ice Information - All about Dry Ice. Web. 12 Jan. 2012.
"Dry Ice." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Jan. 2012.
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Science. New York: Macmillan, 1991. Print.
"Temperature." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
“The Study of the way Temperature changes when being held in different cups” Fiona
Wissink, Cary Academy
What Is the Red Liquid in a Thermometer? - Yahoo! Answers." Yahoo! Answers Home. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
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