Lazy sunday afternoons and asphyxiation
Jul. 20th, 2008 11:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattbellI 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...
------
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.
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.
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.
