WEBVTT - Why is Dry Ice Dangerous?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger, and today I'm going to help you

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<v Speaker 1>get to the bottom of a very pressing question. Why

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<v Speaker 1>is dry ice dangerous? Well, it turns out that dry

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<v Speaker 1>ice is dangerous for a couple of reasons, and one

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<v Speaker 1>is temperature. Now it's ice, but it's really, really really

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<v Speaker 1>cold ice. Dry ice is about negative one and nine

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<v Speaker 1>degrees fahrenheit, which is something like seventy eight point five

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<v Speaker 1>degrees celsius, which means it's very, very cold. It's so cold,

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<v Speaker 1>in fact, that when your skin comes in contact with

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<v Speaker 1>dry ice, it can get what's called a dry ice burn.

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<v Speaker 1>This basically amounts to the dry ice just killing all

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<v Speaker 1>of your skin cells dead within about a second. So

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<v Speaker 1>you never want to touch dry ice with your bare hands,

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<v Speaker 1>and you certainly never want to swallow it or eat it.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't even look at it weird. Just be really careful

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<v Speaker 1>when coming into contact with dry ice. I would recommend gloves, tongs,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe some goggles, some duct tape over your mouth, and

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<v Speaker 1>make sure that you can breathe out of your nose.

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<v Speaker 1>And that is how you should handle dry ice, at

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<v Speaker 1>least as far as I'm concerned. The other way dry

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<v Speaker 1>ice can harm you, though, is through the carbon dioxide

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<v Speaker 1>that it gives off. Dry ice sublimates, which means it

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<v Speaker 1>goes from its solid state to its gaseous state, skipping

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<v Speaker 1>the liquid state in between, which is why they call

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<v Speaker 1>it dry ice. And when it goes into that gaseous state,

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<v Speaker 1>it gives off carbon dioxide that can be toxic to you.

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<v Speaker 1>The air we breathe has about seventy nitrogen to it

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<v Speaker 1>and about oxygen and just a teeny tiny bit of

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<v Speaker 1>carbon dioxide at any given point. Now, when you're in

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<v Speaker 1>a car with the windows rolled up and dry ice

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<v Speaker 1>is kind of spewing carbon dioxide everywhere, those carbon dioxide

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<v Speaker 1>levels could rise, and once it goes beyond five, you're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna have a problem. The air becomes toxic. You choke,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll probably drive off the side of the road, and

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<v Speaker 1>you've got that duct tape all over your mouth and

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<v Speaker 1>safety goggles on, and people just think you're into some

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<v Speaker 1>really weird stuff because the dry ice, it's sublimated into nothingness,

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<v Speaker 1>so you've just got an empty cooler next to you.

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<v Speaker 1>It becomes a mystery basically. So in summation, I would

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<v Speaker 1>just stay clear of dry ice entirely. Check out the

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<v Speaker 1>brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.