Science Investigations with Dry Ice

Team 2 were experimenting with dry ice today.

This year our students had researched into finding out what dry ice was, it's properties related to matter  and after exchanging information from their prior knowledge they further researched into implementing this knowledge into a variety of experiments.

Carbon Dioxide is a normal part of our Earth’s atmosphere. It is the gas we exhale during breathing and the gas that plants use in photosynthesis. It is the same gas added to water to make soda water or “fizzy”

Room 4 used their groups to present each experiment to the class.

#1 – Dry Ice + Water by Crystal, Mary, Emily and Jade

The first in any good dry ice demo is popping a chunk of it into a container filled with warm water. This creates some pretty impressive “smoke” 

#2 – Inflate a Balloon by Charlee, Xavier, Harrison and Callum

Put a deflated balloon over the opening of one of your bottles and watch it grow bigger and bigger! The balloon catches all the carbon dioxide gas as it sublimes. Be sure to take your balloon off before it gets too big.

#3 – Blow a Big Bubble by Zyran, Simon, Jason and Tyler

How to make your own special bubble tube. Alternatively, soak a strip of cloth of dishwashing soap ready to create a giant bubble. Fill up a bowl of warm water and drop the dry ice into it then carefully slide the strip of cloth over the top to create a layer of soap that will grow into a giant bubble as the dry ice sublimes into carbon dioxide and the pressure builds up.

#5 – Dry Ice + Water + Dish soap by Riley, Mikey, Pheonix and Aiden

Add a squirt of dish soap to your dry ice and water and watch as thousands of bubbles full of fog overflow onto the table. 

Dry ice is frozen, compressed carbon dioxide gas and when you add it to warm water, it combines with the water to create the fog (carbon dioxide and water vapour) that you see bubbling out of your cylinder. When soap is added, it traps the carbon dioxide and water vapour in a soapy bubble.

#6 - Dry Ice + Water + Dishsoap + Food Colouring by Alyssa, Priseis, Jamelia and Paige Little

Once you get your bubbles erupting in experiment #5, add a drop of food colouring on top of the bubbles. The colour kind of sits right on top. Then grab a piece of paper and lightly dab it over the coloured bubbles. It makes this really cool bubble tie-dye pattern on the paper. Once dry, use it to make cards and decorations, or just hang it up on your art wall!

#7 – Carbonate Your Own Beverage by Octavia, Paige Tyree, Samantha and Charlee 

Place a few chunks of dry ice into a cup of apple juice or lemonade, wait until the dry ice has completely sublimated (around 20-30 minutes), and voila! You have your own sparkling soda. This is a fun treat to enjoy after all your hard work experimenting. The fizz will stay in your drink for a couple of hours before it goes flat again.