This blog post is another a debate showdown! We take topics and make them into a debate!! Today’s topic is…Dry Ice vs. Liquid Nitrogen! Remember, please send us what type of cooling agent you think is cooler by going to www.spectacularsci.com/debateform-dryice-vs-liquidnitrogen/ and fill out our poll.
Dry Ice
Dry ice is not just regular ice, it is special! Dry ice is the solid or frozen form of Carbon Dioxide. This means that the gas called Carbon Dioxide was frozen in sub-zero temperatures. It is almost 5 times colder than water ice! Dry ice can result in serious frostbite, so wear hand protection while handling this. Dry ice can be used for lots of things. It can be used for keeping things like food cold on long hikes. It is also used for special effects like smog machines. This happens by putting the dry ice in a bucket of hot water. This causes a smoke like material to rise into the air. This is actually the Carbon Dioxide vaporizing. This is also going to be used in the transport of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Liquid Nitrogen
Nitrogen (N) is a gas that makes up 64% of the air that we breathe! Liquid Nitrogen is the Nitrogen gas that has been supercooled. That means that the gas got cold and turned into a liquid. When that happens, we get a boiling liquid that is – 196 °C (- 320 °F)! That is Liquid Nitrogen. It boils because the outside air around it is hotter than the liquid, itself. When the Liquid Nitrogen touches something hotter than itself, the liquid vaporizes into a gas. That creates a smoky effect. Liquid Nitrogen is mostly used for keeping things refrigerated or cold. When people are shipping food or other things that need to be kept cold around the world, they use Liquid Nitrogen to keep it cool. Liquid Nitrogen is also used in movies because it gives a foggy, smoky effect in the movie.