Dry Ice, Nitrogen Gas, & other Experiments

Today in class, a student from Rutgers came in and performed experiments with dry ice and nitrogen gas. Dry ice is very different from regular ice because dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide.
When it breaks down, it turns into carbon dioxide, not water. Dry ice does not leave a pool of water behind as regular ice does. The nitrogen gas was also very interesting. When it was poured on the ground, it turned into gas. This was really cool to watch. It just evaporated in the air.

Some Interesting Facts:

1. Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that makes up 78.09% (by volume) of the air we breathe. It is nonflammable and it will not support combustion.

2. Dry ice is extremely cold, -109°F and does not melt. Instead, it sublimates (changes directly from solid to gas), releasing CO2.

3. Nitrogen is used to freeze blood, as well as viruses for vaccination.

4. Dry ice has approximately 15 times more cooling capacity than the same amount of wet ice, and can last approximately 5 times longer.

5. Nitrogen was discovered by chemist and physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772.


My opinion on dry ice is that its use should be continued because it is helpful. Dry ice is used for medical reasons such as removing warts. Dry ice is also used to ship something frozen around the world. Nitrogen gas is even more important. It is used for manufacturing and construction, environmental reasons, food and beverages, chemicals and petroleum, rubber and plastics, and many more other reasons not listed here. Learning about dry ice and nitrogen gas was really fun, and I hope I get to experiment with it again in high school.




Sources:

http://www.painenterprises.com/berrycold/storage.html

http://www.uigi.com/carbondioxide.html

http://www.west.net/~science/co2.htm

http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/7.html