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  • A family interacts with the Icy Bodies exhibit.
  • Swirling dry ice in the Icy Bodies exhibit.
  • Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move.

  • A family interacts with the Icy Bodies exhibit.
  • Swirling dry ice in the Icy Bodies exhibit.
  • Icy Bodies

Icy Bodies

Small chunks of dry ice jet and swirl across a liquid surface.

Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move, leaving a visible trail of condensed water vapor.


Where:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine
Exhibit Developer:   Shawn Lani, 2005

What’s going on?

Comets are massive chunks of ice, frozen gases, and dust that orbit the Sun. As they near the Sun, these lonely travelers begin to give off gas, gradually shrinking and forming glowing tails that can stretch for millions of miles.

In this mesmerizing artwork meant to evoke the quiet beauty of comets, frozen carbon dioxide—better known as dry ice—slowly sublimates, transforming from a solid state to a gas as it slides and spins across a water surface.

 

Going further

Real comets, often referred to by astronomers as “dirty snowballs,” contain a mixture of rock, dust, and water ice, along with frozen carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia.

Dry ice has a surface temperature far colder than ordinary ice: -109° Fahrenheit, or -78.5° Celsius. For this reason it’s preferred over water ice for shipping perishable goods, with the added advantage that it leaves behind carbon dioxide gas (instead of a soggy wet mess) once its cooling work is done.

 
Phenomena: Change of State, Condensation, Evaporation, Fluid Mechanics, Melting, Turbulent Flow, Sublimation
Keywords: carbon dioxide, comets, complexity, condensation, evaporation, spinning
Collections: Young Kids

More to explore

Icy Bodies

Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move.

Related exhibits

Fog Bridge #72494
Fog Bridge #72494

Lose yourself in a sudden, swirling mass of fog.

Tornado
Tornado

Step into an indoor version of a powerful natural vortex.

Vortex
Vortex

A silvery, dancing vortex appears in rotating water.

Watch Water Freeze
Watch Water Freeze

Freezing water forms a spiky kaleidoscope of colorful crystals.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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