Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. It has the very nice feature of sublimation -- as it melts, it turns directly into carbon dioxide gas rather than a liquid.
If you ever have to handle dry ice, you want to be sure to wear heavy gloves, because a block of dry ice has a surface temperature of -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit (-78.5 degrees C). The super-cold surface temperature can easily damage your skin if you touch it directly.
It's actually a lot like if you were to touch the handle of a hot pot or pan without an oven mitt. If you did this for less than a second -- so that you simply felt the heat and quickly pulled your hand away -- then at most your skin would be a little red. However, if you were to grab a hold of the handle tightly for a couple of seconds or more, chances are you would get a pretty nasty burn. The heat kills the skin cells.
It's the same with dry ice. Dry ice actually freezes your skin cells. The resulting injury is very similar to a burn and should be treated with the same medical attention. For the same reason you never want to taste or swallow dry ice. This would be like drinking something that was scalding hot and you would risk damaging your mouth, throat and part of your esophagus.
1. Why did you select the article?
I selected it because I didn't Know what the meaning of Dry ice was and I thought this article would be easy and interesting.
2. Did you find enough information in the article? Did you find the info you were looking for?
I found all the information necessary to understand what the dry ice is and what could happen if I touch it, I learned that it could be very dangerous and harmful for the health of the people if they don't take the necessary precautions to handle it.
3. What was the most interesting thing you learnt about it?
the most interesting thing that I learned about the dry ice it's if you swallow it, you´ll feel like drinking something very hot, and it's very probable that you damage your mouth, throat and even your esophagus.
4. Make a list of 15 words from the article that you found difficult to understand. Find their meaning.
1.Sublimation: (chemistry) a change directly from the solid to the gaseous state without becoming liquid.
2.Feature: a prominent aspect of something.
3.Melts: the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid.
4.Rather: to some (great or small) extent.
5.Handle: touch, lift, or hold with the hands.
6.While: a pice of something.
7.Mitt: gloves.
8.Grab: the act of catching an object with the hands.
9.tightly: exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent
10.Injury: any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
11.Swallow: Drink or deglutition something.
12.Scalding: burn with a hot liquid or steam
13.Throat: the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone
14.However: in whatever way or manner.
