We normally experience carbon dioxide (CO2) as a gas, but if it were cooled down to about −78°C, it would become a solid. The everyday term for solid carbon dioxide is dry ice.
Why “dry” ice? Solid carbon dioxide is called dry ice because it converts from a solid to a gas directly, without going through the liquid phase, in a process called sublimation. Thus, there is no messy liquid phase to worry about. Although it is a novelty, dry ice has some potential dangers. Because it is so cold, it can freeze living tissues very quickly, so people handling dry ice should wear special protective gloves. The cold carbon dioxide gas is also heavier than air (because it is cold and more dense), so people in the presence of dry ice should be in a well-ventilated area.
Dry ice has several common uses. Because it is so cold, it is used as a refrigerant to keep other things cold or frozen (e.g., meats or ice cream). In the medical field, dry ice is used to preserve medical specimens, blood products, and drugs. It also has dermatological applications (e.g., freezing off warts). Organs for transplant are kept cool with dry ice until the recipient of the new organ is ready for surgery. In this respect, carbon dioxide is much like water—more than one phase of the same substance has significant uses in the real world.
Most of us are familiar with the three phases of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. Indeed, we addressed the energy changes involved in phase changes in Chapter 7 "Energy and Chemical Processes". The picture on this page shows the substance we are probably most familiar with as having those three phases: water. In everyday life, we commonly come in contact with water as a solid (ice), as a liquid, and as a gas (steam). All we have to do is change the conditions of the substance—typically temperature—and we can change the phase from solid to liquid to gas and back again.
Under the proper conditions of temperature and pressure, many substances—not only water—can experience the three different phases (Figure 8.1 "Water"). An understanding of the phases of matter is important for our understanding of all matter. In this chapter, we will explore the three phases of matter.
