dry ice 'explosions'?

[hatidua]

When I read of these 'explosions' at LAX caused by dry ice, is this simply a case of the vapor expanding to a volume the soda container can't cope with? (like overfilling a balloon?)....

[sniper7]

yeah, dry ice is solid carbon dioxide which warms, turns into gas, that expands inside a sealed container. the container can only withstand so much pressure then explodes. usually a plastic bottle with 1/3 water and dry ice chunks put inside and sealed tightly.

[asmo]

We make these every year at 4th of July..

Take a 2 liter bottle, break up some dry-ice and put it in said bottle (about a half-a-cup works), then pour some water in - about 2 cups - then QUICKLY cap the bottle (screw top) and RUN AWAY. They blow in a couple of minutes - but occasionally the blow VERY quickly. Big BOOOM. No fiery explosions.. Good times to be had by all..

But the physics works the way you described. The CO2 expands and pushes out on the walls of the bottle until the bottle can no longer maintain the volume of the rapidly expanding gas.

[colorider]

Loud as hell with great force. 2 liter bottles are the best.
can take a while for it to burst, so don't go walking up to it thinking it won't blow. If you want it to blow before it does it on its own, just shoot it w a BB gun.

[Gman]

There was a Mythbusters episode where they covered this.


A little bit of a solid turned into a very large amount of gas.

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[Great-Kazoo]

The "suspect" was arrested. HOWEVER, NOWHERE on line can i find a picture of him, again.

[flyingcouch]

smaller "bottled water" bottles work good also. A case of water and a few pounds of dry ice is great fun. I think the small bottles are similar in volume to an M-80 going off. The 2 liter bottle is a bit louder, but its kind of expensive to purchase that many 2 liter bottles. If you don't add water and just put the ice in the 2-liter bottle it takes 30-40 minutes before they go. You can place those in areas where people don't expect them (airport???) and when they go it is even more fun because no one is ready for it.

[SuperiorDG]

Gone are the days of a good practical joke.

[colorider]

"The works" brand drain cleaner and tin foil works on the same concept. Just a much faster reaction. And the vapor is pretty bad so don't inhale it. A few pieces of torn tinfoil in the bottle and a squirt of the cleaner. Cap and run. No flame

[hatidua]

The "suspect" was arrested. HOWEVER, NOWHERE on line can i find a picture of him, again.

Google Dicarlo Bennett, his pic is being run by several news sources: