How to Make a Dry Ice Crystal Ball

Brad Powell: Hello, I am Daddy Brad and welcome to a brand new segment on DadLabs.com called Quality Time, where we'll show you cool activities to do with you kids so you can spend some quality time. We are delighted today to be joined by Katelyn from Girlstart and she's going to show us a really cool experiments/activities you could do with kids. Katelyn, welcome. Katelyn: Thank you so much. Well this activity is great because you can get everything that you need either at the grocery store or just near your house. So all you need is a really big bowl. Brad Powell: Bowl. Katelyn: Fill it with some water, some really cheap Dawn soap. Brad Powell: It has to be Dawn? Katelyn: Dawn works the best actually. Brad Powell: How about the Palmolive? Katelyn: It can be generic enough. Brad Powell: How about soap? Just no anti-bacterial. Katelyn: Correct, or scent. Brad Powell: No mango. Katelyn: No. Brad Powell:Just soap. Katelyn: Correct. Brad Powell: Just Soap. Katelyn: Yeah, just soap. Brad Powell: Got it. Katelyn: Pour the soap in, make the bubbles happen. Brad Powell: Got it! Make the bubbles. Katelyn: Okay, so now we have some soapy water, and then you just get some rag, these are cut-up T-shirts, they work really well. The rag that your mom cleans the kitchen table with, things like that, that works. Brad Powell: What about size? Katelyn: That size works. Then find a little bowl. Brad Powell: Small bowl; daddy's cereal bowl, kid's cereal bowl. Katelyn: That's exactly the way to look at it. Brad Powell: Yes. Katelyn: You can just fill this bowl with water and that's it. Then you want your dry ice. Brad Powell: Where I'll get dry ice? Katelyn: Dry ice is typically at the grocery store, central market will give it. Brad Powell: It will cost like a $1000, doesn't it? Katelyn: It doesn't. This bag only cost about eight, I think. Brad Powell: You're kidding me. Katelyn: No. Brad Powell: Eight bucks for dry ice, Popsicles at my house tonight. Katelyn: Don't eat those. Brad Powell: Don't eat those? Katelyn: No, bad idea. We actually have to wear a glove to touch it. Brad Powell: Really? Katelyn: Right. Brad Powell: So, if you lick it, you are really going to hang it. Katelyn: You are going to be really sad. Brad Powell: Don't lick the dry ice. Katelyn: Don't lick the dry ice. Brad Powell: Okay, eight bucks for ruining. Katelyn: Okay. So, the pieces come with the really, really big blocks. So, you have to beat it up, because you only want some small chunks. Brad Powell: Okay. Katelyn: So, ignore the loudness. Brad Powell: Beat it up. Katelyn: Okay, so typically a parent should grab the dry ice, I would not recommend the kids doing it. Brad Powell: Alright. Katelyn: We usually get a chunk, pretty big size chunk. Brad Powell: It's smoky. Katelyn: It is smoky. Now let's see what happens when we put it in the water. Brad Powell: Okay! It's really smoking! Katelyn: It is really smoking now. So, what dry ice is, it is frozen carbon dioxide. Brad Powell: It looks like the Journey Concert when all the smoke came out on the stage, and steppers out there shaking it, that's what, look at it, look. Katelyn: Is that your time or my time? Brad Powell: Journey? Hello? Katelyn: Okay! So you get your really soapy rag. Brad Powell: Or T-shirt. Katelyn: Any kind of rag, I am going to squeeze it out just a little bit, you don't want it too wet. What you are going to try to do is create a film over the to of the bowl, like a bubble. It now looks very similar to a crystal ball. So, the carbon dioxide is being released and the water vapors is being released as well and so the bubble is keeping that all trapped in, and so it's looking like a crystal ball. This one seems to be pretty good, not willing to pop, but let's see what happens when we do pop it. I am not really good. Brad Powell: What happened? Katelyn: There was a little bit of smoke. Brad Powell: Okay, so we're going to make this nice little film. This reminds me of Frankenstein. Katelyn: You can use dry ice for a lot of things for Halloween. Brad Powell: Yeah, you can put fish on it and it stays cold and also you can store -- okay, look at this! Katelyn: Okay, that one is cool. Brad Powell: It's great. Katelyn, tell us a little bit about Girlstart. Katelyn: Girlstart, a non-profit in Austin, Texas, and we do programs to spark girls' interest in maths, science, engineering and technology. It's really important to show them that dry ice can be really fun, and dry ice is all about chemistry. We do things anywhere from a summer-camp to workshop series to one-day events, and we do things for girls, families and grown-ups. Brad Powell: What age group do you serve? Katelyn: We serve girls as young as first grade all the way up to high-school, and our big events that are opened to the whole public. Therefore, learning the new things about science and how it can be really fun. Brad Powell: Can they go to your website and find out how to do these things, is that one of the things --? Katelyn: You can go to our website and find more about different programs that we offer, and our website is www.girlstart.org and that's the best way to see what's going on in Austin. Brad Powell: Cool, that's great, that's great. Well, wonderful activity, Katelyn, thank you so much for joining us here on Quality Time. That's all for us here on Quality Time. If you've got cool activities that you want to share with some of our readers, go to DadLabs.com and join the community and tell us about cool activities and things that you do to spend some quality time with your kids. Okay! See you. Okay, let's to this again. Katelyn: Okay. Brad Powell: Excellent. Let me do this. Katelyn: There we go.