What is Dry Ice?
What we call dry ice, is nothing else than the solid form of carbon dioxide, and its main use is linked of course, to the cooling processes, carbon dioxide snow having a higher cooling value than traditional ice.
Dry Ice is called „carbonic ice”, „carbonic snow”, or „dry snow”.
Main advantages
- Cooling temperature of this form of solid carbon dioxide ice is lower than that of ice obtained from water at temperatures below 0° C.
- Also, compared to traditional ice, dry ice does not leave visible traces in glasses, or any other kind of containers in which it is stored.
- It is, by far, the most indicated when cooling devices not running at optimum parameters, or does not offer a feasible solution.
Important details
However, considering that the environment temperature at the time of dry ice sublimation is -78.5 ° C, its handling without protective equipment is extremely dangerous. This is because, if the parts of the body are exposed to this temperature, the result would be a series of burns (so-called „frostbite”) caused by the physical phenomenon known as „freezing”. Therefore, whenever you handle dry ice, use special tools and equipment.
Uses of dry ice
- Most common environments, in which dry ice is used, are clubs, bars, nightclubs and private parties. In addition to the thermal properties of this chemical compound, dry ice can provide spectacular images due to a very high temperature difference between it and the environment.
- Dry ice can be used very effectively by medical laboratories or test centers, for the transport of biological samples or any other compounds to be kept at extremely low temperatures.
- Transporting food by air to large distances can be made also using dry ice without the fear that those products will degrade. The food industry uses this type of ice, whereas foods does not lose flavor. It is the main method used by the major companies in the food industry to preserve especially meat.
- Dry ice can be used to prepare ice cream.
- An important use of dry ice is sanding. This is a technique for cleaning or finishing metal, glass, stone or any other kind of solid material surfaces. Considering that other processes which use sanding materials are harmful, and are deteriorating work surface, dry ice is becoming more widely used in the process, leaving no residue and it is non pollutant for the environment.
