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Watch What Happens When You Insert A Coin Into Dry Ice

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Lisa Winter

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2122 Watch What Happens When You Insert A Coin Into Dry Ice
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Carbon dioxide is typically known as a gas, though it exists as a solid when it reaches temperatures below −78.5 °C (−109.3 °F). This process is called deposition, and goes directly from gas to solid. When temperatures warm up, it sublimates and goes directly back into a gas. 

Something very interesting happens when you insert a coin into a block of the dry ice; it produces a shrill screech when contact is first made and will begin to vibrate, almost like the coin is shivering.

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So why does this happen?

When the half dollar is pushed into the block, the warmth of the metal sublimates the dry ice and causes a change in pressure. As the gas pushes past the coin, the pressure causes that shriek. After some time, the coin forms a larger hole in the dry ice, producing larger air currents that push the coin around, causing it to vibrate and appear to be shivering.


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spaceSpace and Physics
  • tag
  • pressure,

  • temperature,

  • dry ice

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