Lazy sunday afternoons and asphyxiation

[mattbell]

I had a little over 5 pounds of dry ice left over from yesterday's party.  If I didn't use it right away, it would just evaporate.  What to do? 

First, I tried making a vodka slushy.  If you put a bottle of vodka in the freezer, it stays liquid, but it if you use dry ice, you can freeze it.  Frozen vodka has the consistency of wet paste -- it's very slushy.  The taste of frozen vodka is so frostbitingly cold that you don't really taste the alcohol. 



Next, I decided to dump the rest of the dry ice into a pot of boiling water.  There were several things wrong with this idea... not the least of which was the fact that I had just had two shots of vodka. 

First, the good stuff.  Here's how it looks:


And a movie:

Here's why it turned out to be a bad idea...

So had just I dumped the remainder of the dry ice (probably 5 pounds worth) into a big pot of boiling water.  It was awesome.... aside from the fact it let out so much CO2 that it extinguished both the flame and the pilot lights.  I started smelling unburnt propane, and quickly reached to turn the jets off.  Even then I was feeling a bit lightheaded.  I had closed the windows to keep the wind from messing up the nice smoke plumes I was filming... another bad idea.  I'd just trapped myself in a room that was rapidly filling with CO2.  I quickly opened several windows. 

I did a little research on wikipedia.   CO2 has a higher density than air, so it tends to move downward.  That explains why it smothered the pilot light.*  Also, by looking up some information and doing some math, I figured out that I raised the CO2 concentration in the kitchen from the normal 0.03% to potentially something like 3% which would make plants happy but can cause dizziness, headaches, fainting, and, eventually, death in people.  Awesome.  I had just confirmed the first two effects on people experimentally. 

The actual risk to me was probably quite low, but I'm glad I have enough of a brain to work out these things before they become real problems.

*Yes, this little light of mine.  I'm going to let it shine.

There we go.  Back in business.

------

Wow... I should remember that for a price as low as $20, I can have all kinds of crazy once-in-a-lifetime experiences.   Actually, it was more like $5, as dry ice is $1/lb.  

Comments

[agentsteel53.livejournal.com]

awesome!

You rock for taking photos of this

[savorie.livejournal.com]

Also, thank you for not dying, dearheart.

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

Dry Ice is fun! We had it at a party we put on called Weird Pscience:

http://tatjna.livejournal.com/404717.html

There was much consideration about putting the dry ice close to the DJ booth in case they got dizzy and collapsed but in the end we decided it'd be fine with the size of the room and the open doors.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Shouldn't all those pictures be upside down? :D

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

CO2 doesn't fuck around. I almost offed myself making dessiccant in my kitchen two years ago (CaCO3 + 2HCl => CaCl2 + H2O + CO2). A mole of CO2 will fill up a kitchen, and a standard kitchen vent is no substitute for a fume hood.

[chellmer.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Glad you didn't die.

[flamingnerd.livejournal.com]

"not the least of which was the fact that I had just had two shots of vodka."

this made me laugh pretty hard.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

great party, goodtameetcha, sorry I couldn't stay later. I took some of the dry ice with me when I left but only a cupful. It managed to explode in the car in the way home 'cause the ice froze over the vent hole it was using. Ok, so it was a TINY explosion. Splashed on the windshield. Auros was annoyed with me. So I spit more water on the hole and made it do it a second time ;)

If I had realized you were gonna try to kill yourself I might have tried to take more :)

[neoteny.livejournal.com]

Cool! I <3 dry ice. Actively boiling water was probably overkill to get that effect, but I'm sure it seemed urgent at the time. :)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Actually, keeping the water boiling hot is necessary -- if the water cools, then a layer of water ice forms around the dry ice, causing the dry ice to dramatically slow down its sublimation process.

[geheimnisnacht.livejournal.com]

Next time you need to try "deep-frying" a block of dry ice. Sounds like it would be interesting, and more dangerous of course...:)

[aquestrian.livejournal.com]

This looks super cool, but my favorite remains the electrocuted pickle. Fantastic party; I had an amazing time.

[amoken.livejournal.com]

So what you're saying is that you should do this on an electric stove next time? ;)

Also, I am sad I didn't make it. I actually dressed up and put on makeup before audaibnjad grudgingly admitted that he wasn't feeling well. :( Poor boy. (He's all better now.)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Aww... sorry you couldn't make it.

I did enjoy talking to you at the ABL party though and would like to talk more. Would you both be interested in meeting me (and perhaps Christina) for dinner some night?

[amoken.livejournal.com]

Sure! That'd be fun. I think I tend to be least busy on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Other time slots are best negotiated by email or IM. :)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I sent you an email to your gmail address listed on your profile page. I don't know if you check it often so I'm letting you know. :-0

[acydrayn.livejournal.com]

Dry ice is always fun. It is fun to toss in little ponds around sunset too. Makes for nice creepy effects.

my first thought when I saw you dumping that in there was 'That is going to put out the flame!' I didn't even think about the possibility of it putting out the pilot light too but it makes sense.