Why do grocery stores sell dry ice?

My local grocery store, vons, sells dry ice. Is there a purpose for it, besides making loud explosions?

Axl.

 

I know that it can be used for shipping food items.

Other than that, I'm not sure.

 

Does the owner like to kill people??

 

It's quite tasty actually.

 

It was just a question?

 

Is there a purpose for it, besides making loud explosions?

cheap special effects?

freezing perishable goods?

tortureing people?

 

You covered all the cool basics Whoa! What did you say? Did you say Torture?

 

All I know is that the noise it makes when it explodes is loud.

Axl.

 

I think it makes a neat effect for Halloween

 

How do you know that it torturs people?

i'd like to say personal experiance, but i'd be lying.

i just figured that cos it's very very very cold, it'd give cold burns, or would cause pain when in contact with the skin.

 

Its not that cold when broken into small pieces.

Axl.

 

Oh I see. Well all I know is that you can't drink it, and you can't pick it up or touch it. What the heck is so good about it anyways?

 

You can ship food with it.

 

Good point

 

"Its not that cold when broken into small pieces."

If the pieces are too small, they'll just sublimate right away. Otherwise, they'll rip your skin off rather quickly, no matter how big the pieces are.

Amazing.

 

So people can freeze warts off at home.

 

So people can freeze warts off at home.

You know they DO have Dr.'s offices for that sort of thing...

 

You can ship anything that requires food. Like blood and urine samples

 

Believe me, I know. It is damn painful!
I didnt mean I froze my own warts off.

 

Amazing the fun you can have with frozen C0sub2.

From howstuffworks.com:

How does dry ice work?

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. A block of dry ice has a surface temperature of -109.3 degrees F (-78.5 degrees C). Dry ice also has the very nice feature of sublimation -- as it melts it turns directly into carbon dioxide gas rather than a liquid. The super-cold temperature and the sublimation feature make dry ice great for refrigeration. For example, if you want to send something frozen across the country, you can pack it in dry ice. It will be frozen when it reaches its destination and there will be no messy liquid left over like you would have with normal ice.

Many people are familiar with liquid nitrogen, which boils at -320 degrees F (-196 degrees C). Liquid nitrogen is fairly messy and difficult to handle. So why is nitrogen a liquid while carbon dioxide is a solid? This difference is caused by the solid-liquid-gas features of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

We are all familiar with the solid-liquid-gas behavior of water. We know that at sea level water freezes at 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and boils at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C). Water behaves differently as you change the pressure, however. As you lower the pressure the boiling point falls. If you lower the pressure enough, water will boil at room temperature. If you plot out the solid-liquid-gas behavior of a substance like water on a graph showing both temperature and pressure, you create what's called a phase diagram for the substance. The phase diagram shows the temperatures and pressures at which a substance changes between solid, liquid and gas.

This page shows the phase diagrams for water and carbon dioxide. What you can see is that, at normal pressures, carbon dioxide moves straight between gas and solid. It is only at much higher pressures that you find liquid carbon dioxide. For example, a high pressure tank of carbon dioxide or a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher contains liquid carbon dioxide.

To make dry ice, you start with a high-pressure container full of liquid carbon dioxide. When you release the liquid carbon dioxide from the tank, the expansion of the liquid and the high-speed evaporation of carbon dioxide gas cools the remainder of the liquid down to the freezing point, where it turns directly into a solid. If you have ever seen a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher in action you have seen this carbon dioxide snow form in the nozzle. You compress the carbon dioxide snow to create a block of dry ice.

Dry Ice Safety

If you ever have a chance to handle dry ice, you want to be sure to wear heavy gloves. The super-cold surface temperature can easily damage your skin if you touch it directly. For the same reason you never want to taste or swallow dry ice either.
Another important concern with dry ice is ventilation. You want to make sure the area is well-ventilated. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and it can concentrate in low areas or in enclosed spaces (like a car or a room where dry ice is sublimating). Normal air is 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and only 0.035% Carbon Dioxide. If the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air rises above 5%, carbon dioxide can become toxic. Be sure to ventilate any area that contains dry ice, and do not transport it in a closed vehicle.

 

Up.

Axl.

 

hunters, fishing people, travelers, need to pack their perishables to keep from spoiling. Hospitals need to keep medication, organs for transplants, cool. If you're having a party, easiest way to keep your pop, beer, mixers cold, plus your party food.

 

Dry Ice Bomb Science Projects. *Thumbs Up*

 

Doesn't dry ice freeze skin?

 

"Doesn't dry ice freeze skin?"

No, it removes skin.

Amazing.