How to Make Your Own Dry Ice Fogger
Dry ice is extremely cold (-109.3°F to -78.5°C), frozen carbon dioxide (CO2). It sublimes upon contact with water to produce CO2 gas, which looks like thick white fog that can be used for various decorative purposes. Making your own dry ice fog-maker is an easy and effective way to obtain fog for decorating anything from a Halloween party to a dance. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Purchase as much dry ice as suits your purposes. For a cauldron-sized display, use about 10 pounds of dry ice per hour to create the effect of fog coming out of the cauldron.
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Wear gloves when handling the dry ice. Never touch dry ice directly to your skin. Always use insulated gloves, tongs, or other safety materials to handle it because it can cause frostbite. For the same reason, never attempt to taste dry ice.
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Place your dry ice in an insulated (preferably Styrofoam) container.
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Fill the container with enough water to cover the dry ice in order to sublime the dry ice and thereby create a cloud of white foggy smoke. The hotter the water, the more and faster fog will be produced.
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Turn on the air conditioner, if possible, because more fog will be produced in a cold room than in a hot room.
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Set a fan at a low setting to blow the fog to a desired location so it spreads more quickly. Keep the fan about 10 feet away and do not set the fan speed too high so that the fog doesn't spread all over and lose its cloudy properties.
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Tips & Warnings
Ensure that the room in which you will be making dry ice fog is lightly ventilated so as to prevent asphyxiation. Too much ventilation can cause the fog to diffuse away, but too little can cause health problems if you stay in the room for extended periods of time.
Do not store dry ice in an airtight container because as the dry ice sublimes into CO2 gas, the pressure in the container will build up until the container explodes and sends shrapnel flying into the air, which can be harmful to those near the explosion. Do not put dry ice directly onto a counter because the extreme cold could crack the surface. Do not stay in a cloud of dry ice gas, for excessive CO2 gas consumption can cause asphyxiation. Similarly, when transporting dry ice in a car, open the window to vent the CO2 gas. Do not store dry ice in your freezer because dry ice is so cold that the super-low temperatures will cause your freezer to turn off.
Resources
- Photo Credit Kim H Yusuke, Wikipedia Commons
