Dry Ice
Apr 5, 2020 11:43:45 #
We received a shipment from Omaha Steaks that was accompanied by a large block of dry ice in a plastic bag. I tossed the block out on the deck and went on to other things. I was surprised to see that, even after I smashed it, it did not disappear after a few hours. Being a damp day with little wind, the fog coming off it got me to thinking... I want to plan something for next time, probably sometime this summer. Photographically, that is.
I'm looking for suggestions, fun things to do with dry ice. What have you done that turned out well, or poorly?
I'm looking for suggestions, fun things to do with dry ice. What have you done that turned out well, or poorly?
Apr 5, 2020 11:59:46 #
A long time (actually very long time!!) I was involved in a college fraternity. We had an initiation ceremony in a dark room around an old iron pot. The witches brew in it was water and dry ice. It looks like smoke but is only carbon dioxide. "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble".
At your own risk, you can flush some chunks down the toilet on the first floor of a fraternity house and the toilets on the third floor may start bubbling with strange "smoke" coming out.
At your own risk, you can flush some chunks down the toilet on the first floor of a fraternity house and the toilets on the third floor may start bubbling with strange "smoke" coming out.
Apr 5, 2020 12:29:28 #
bsprague wrote:
A different take on "f/8 and be there" ...At your own risk, you can flush some chunks down the toilet on the first floor of a fraternity house and the toilets on the third floor may start bubbling with strange "smoke" coming out.
To the OP: if you do Google search with key words "dry ice photography," there are several You-Tube videos that pop up. I'm going to alert UHH member Ed Shapiro to this topic since he is a commercial photographer. I bet he has some stories!
Apr 5, 2020 12:36:30 #
Steve DeMott
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)
Just for fun. Next time your able to have people over, throw a block of dry ice in the toilet. Then watch the people freak out.
OOOPS! Should have read the replies.
OOOPS! Should have read the replies.
Apr 5, 2020 12:38:23 #
bsprague wrote:
A long time (actually very long time!!) I was involved in a college fraternity. We had an initiation ceremony in a dark room around an old iron pot. The witches brew in it was water and dry ice. It looks like smoke but is only carbon dioxide. "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble".
At your own risk, you can flush some chunks down the toilet on the first floor of a fraternity house and the toilets on the third floor may start bubbling with strange "smoke" coming out.
At your own risk, you can flush some chunks down the toilet on the first floor of a fraternity house and the toilets on the third floor may start bubbling with strange "smoke" coming out.
Just as long as you remember that too much dry ice in a small or un-ventilated space can kill people by lowering the oxygen % to dangerous levels - basements, boats, etc especially prone to this as the CO2 is heavier than O2 and can thus create "pools of death"
Apr 5, 2020 12:52:15 #
ChristianHJensen wrote:
Just as long as you remember that too much dry ice in a small or un-ventilated space can kill people by lowering the oxygen % to dangerous levels - basements, boats, etc especially prone to this as the CO2 is heavier than O2 and can thus create "pools of death"
Do you think a pound or two of dry ice has that much CO2? As 20 year olds we were immune to even worse poisonous liquids behavior! Maybe the booze blocked the CO2.
Apr 5, 2020 13:05:44 #
Dry ice is ALL CO2, and expands a great deal as it evaporates, but it is cold enough that it thaws slowly. I suspect that you just didn't have enough dry ice. But keep going for that Darwin award.
Apr 5, 2020 15:59:52 #
bsprague wrote:
Do you think a pound or two of dry ice has that much CO2? As 20 year olds we were immune to even worse poisonous liquids behavior! Maybe the booze blocked the CO2.
Somebody beat me to the answer. I personally know of three boats with deaths due to having a cooler with dry ice below in the cabin
Apr 5, 2020 21:11:27 #
As a kid, attending Whitelaw Reid Junior High School in Brooklyn, Mr. Silverman's 7th General Science class was my favorite subject. For a science fair project, we made a paper mache volcano model on a chicken wire frame with a tin can receptacle at the "mouth" that was to contain stuff to simulate smoke. Dry ice in water emitted too gentle a kinda steam so Potiseum Permanente and Glycerin produced more effective acrid smoke, cinders, and sparks. I was going through my early adolescent pyromania stage and this formula made for a perfect stink bomb! I was impressed! By the way- a fine experiment in rapid oxidation! This mixture had a delayed action so we would pour some in the inkwell (in our desks, leftover from the olden days) at the end of a class period. Early in the next period, the occupant of that seat would be accused of playing with matches during class as smoke and fumes were spewed from the inkwell! Two of us were expelled from Mrs. Hartmans English class at a critical time in our educational development, which probably accounts for my deficit in grammar and spelling!
Dry ice- well- anything that can mix with water and BOIL at room temperature was awesome to me. We would take leftover hotdogs from the school cafeteria, immerse them in the dry ice solution then throw them on the floor- they would shatter. Good thing the dissection frogs in the lab were already dead- frog cubes? Frog chips? Yup!
Of course, we were admonished for our little pranks and were told that skin exposure to dry ice could cause irreparable damage and licking that stuff was out of the question- not like asking the new kids to touch frozen signposts with their tongues in the middle of Winter as a kinda initiation ritual. We were also told that vaporized CO2 could cause suffocation. We were also told about famous horror-film actor Lon Chaney designed a small cage to place in his mouth, containing dry ice to simulate "deadly fumes" coming out of his mouth as a movie special effect. Something went wrong and his jaw was badly deformed- saved a lot of makeup work for his scary films. He eventually died as a result of lung cancer brought on by AGAIN inhaling artificial snow made with CO2.
Photography wise- Potassium Permanganate, Sulphuric Acid, and water made for a great darkroom tray cleaner. I seldom used dry ice for smoke or steam effects. We get better results with more simple machines that generate harmless oil smoke and lots of it. For shooting soups and hot beverages, there are special smoke tablets- kinda like the ones that are used in model railroad steam locomotives. We used to blow in cigarette smoke through a straw just prior to releasing the shutter but that only worked in black and white- in color the smoke was too blue! Go figure!
Nowadays, what with the pandemic. I would not advise messing with large quantities of dry ice that could impair your respiratory system in the midst of a disease that affects that system.
There is, however, a new "hote cuisine" method trending in upscale outrageously expensive restaurants utilizing liquid nitrogen and dry ice to prepare all kinds of frozen desserts- editable balloons and other novelties. Dinner and wine for 2 can set you back over $600. Maybe next time I go to Mac Donalds, I'll just drop some dry ice in my milkshake and get away with a couple of bucks!
Attached is a shot of what used to be, up until March 1, 2019, at 3 AM, the fancy restaurant adjacent to the building where I live. No artificial smoke required.
Dry ice- well- anything that can mix with water and BOIL at room temperature was awesome to me. We would take leftover hotdogs from the school cafeteria, immerse them in the dry ice solution then throw them on the floor- they would shatter. Good thing the dissection frogs in the lab were already dead- frog cubes? Frog chips? Yup!
Of course, we were admonished for our little pranks and were told that skin exposure to dry ice could cause irreparable damage and licking that stuff was out of the question- not like asking the new kids to touch frozen signposts with their tongues in the middle of Winter as a kinda initiation ritual. We were also told that vaporized CO2 could cause suffocation. We were also told about famous horror-film actor Lon Chaney designed a small cage to place in his mouth, containing dry ice to simulate "deadly fumes" coming out of his mouth as a movie special effect. Something went wrong and his jaw was badly deformed- saved a lot of makeup work for his scary films. He eventually died as a result of lung cancer brought on by AGAIN inhaling artificial snow made with CO2.
Photography wise- Potassium Permanganate, Sulphuric Acid, and water made for a great darkroom tray cleaner. I seldom used dry ice for smoke or steam effects. We get better results with more simple machines that generate harmless oil smoke and lots of it. For shooting soups and hot beverages, there are special smoke tablets- kinda like the ones that are used in model railroad steam locomotives. We used to blow in cigarette smoke through a straw just prior to releasing the shutter but that only worked in black and white- in color the smoke was too blue! Go figure!
Nowadays, what with the pandemic. I would not advise messing with large quantities of dry ice that could impair your respiratory system in the midst of a disease that affects that system.
There is, however, a new "hote cuisine" method trending in upscale outrageously expensive restaurants utilizing liquid nitrogen and dry ice to prepare all kinds of frozen desserts- editable balloons and other novelties. Dinner and wine for 2 can set you back over $600. Maybe next time I go to Mac Donalds, I'll just drop some dry ice in my milkshake and get away with a couple of bucks!
Attached is a shot of what used to be, up until March 1, 2019, at 3 AM, the fancy restaurant adjacent to the building where I live. No artificial smoke required.
Apr 5, 2020 22:25:25 #
Steve DeMott wrote:
Just for fun. Next time your able to have people over, throw a block of dry ice in the toilet. Then watch the people freak out.
OOOPS! Should have read the replies.
OOOPS! Should have read the replies.
Not there's a man after my own heart! My thing- just for fun- was to put undiluted Photo-Flo wetting agent in the W/C tank and wait for the next person to flush. Yellowstone Nationa Toilet! 12 or 15 flushes 'till the suds go away- maybe!
Apr 6, 2020 05:55:06 #
melismus
Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country
Before WWII, prescriptions came in little glass bottles. I put a piece of dry ice in one, and was sure it would explode if I screwed the cap on tight. But how long would it take? I cocked my arm back ready to throw--paused--OK--Now! But I was a split second too late. It went off behind my ear, and I swear the ear is still ringing. Amazingly, I suffered only one little cut in the palm of my hand.
Apr 6, 2020 08:37:28 #
DavidPine
Loc: Fredericksburg, TX
stu352 wrote:
We received a shipment from Omaha Steaks that was ... (show quote)
Search YouTube for how to make a smoke machine from a 5 gallon plastic bucket. It's great fun.
Apr 6, 2020 08:43:22 #
I've seen dry ice and LEDs with warm filters used in an old cabin. Dry ice for the chimney and lights to illuminate windows. Makes a beautiful image set against the fall color.
Apr 6, 2020 10:18:33 #
I won't comment on the dry ice, except that it can burn you, but I will on Omaha steaks. They are really not the best quality and you can do a lot better, even going to a local butcher. Their hype is incredible, but I know meat and they are not the best as well as being overpriced. Not a criticism, just a friendly comment.
Apr 6, 2020 10:36:41 #
There are lots of things you can do with dry ice that make interesting photographs. Here are a few examples which I tried.
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