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Join the American Chemical Society at the Illinois State Fair, Springfield, Illinois |
Floating Bubbles
| Materials: | Ten-gallon aquarium, block of dry ice, a bottle of commercial bubble solution, or make your own. |
| Note: | CAUTION!! Dry ice can cause severe frostbite and burns!! It should only be handled by an experienced adult. |
Procedure:
- A block a dry ice is placed in a ten-gallon aquarium. A lid is on the aquarium to keep the carbon dioxide from blowing out. The lid is raised and bubbles are blown in to the aquarium. The bubbles will float in the aquarium on the carbon dioxide. This will give the appearance of the bubbles floating in “air”. Sometimes the bubbles will freeze on the dry ice and even when broken a partial sphere will remain visible.
Topics that can be discussed include an explanation of the sublimation of the dry ice and the relative densities of the gases.
----Contributed by Frank Salter, Mark Twain Section