One of the most common forms of gas in the planet’s atmosphere is Carbon Dioxide, or CO2. This is because animals exhale it. This does not mean, however, that it is purely a waste gas, for there are plenty of uses for carbon dioxide. One of which is freezing it to form dry ice. One of the most common uses for frozen CO2, also known as cardice, is to create soda by adding it to water. Cardice also freezes at temperatures of negative 78.5 degrees centigrade. This makes it much colder than frozen water’s zero degrees Celsius. Cardice is also a lot simpler to freeze and handle, where all it takes is a special pair of gloves. The reason it is referred to as a dry form of ice is because it sublimates from solid phase directly to its gaseous phase, skipping the liquid form completely. The biggest setbacks of cardice is that it sublimates at a much faster rate than normal ice, but they can be used for prolonging the frozen state of normal ice quite well. Cardice, during sublimation, produces a very foggy and smokey look, making it useful as horror special effects every time Halloween comes around each year.

The internet can be a great source of information about dry ice. There are websites about subjects such as how to make dry ice and how to preserve its temperature properly. Another great use of cardice is for preserving fruits and vegetables without making them saggy, especially during transport.