Dry Ice Investigations
Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and is much colder than frozen water. Because it is so much colder, it can give you a burn if you touch it with your bare skin, so be careful. Gloves only for the little ones! It is so much fun to play with because as it sublimates, it gives off this smoky look...
Put a chunk in a balloon and listen to it squeal as it sublimates...
Drop it in a Pyrex bowl of warm water...to see it bubble, click here.
Pick up the smoky carbon dioxide in your hands. It will stay there for a few seconds.
Has your balloon grown?
Make the dry ice sing. Put a spoon in a cup of hot water. Take it out and hold it on the dry ice. It will make a squealing noise.
Make the dry ice sing. Put a spoon in a cup of hot water. Take it out and hold it on the dry ice. It will make a squealing noise.
How big is your balloon now?
What investigations can you come up with?
Did you know that the surface of Mars is made up of dry ice?
GEMS: Dry Ice Investigations
Grades 6-8
4 Activities
This unit features student investigations into dry ice, whose intriguing and “sublime” behavior makes for a totally memorable learning experience. High interest and the captivating nature of the substance provide a strong motivational framework for students to construct essential understandings of inquiry, as well as deeper age-appropriate concepts of matter, gases, chemistry, and carbon dioxide itself.
The unit is designed to meet the dual educational challenge of providing compelling student-centered experience in scientific investigation and experimentation, while introducing aspects of the particulate theory of matter, phase change, nature of gases, and the history of science.
