Reasons why dry ice cannot be placed in the refrigerator

Dry ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide. It is because dry ice has the special property of being very easy to vaporize. Therefore, steel soldiers are often used as fake fog on stage, and the sublimation of dry ice can enhance the stage effect. However, dry ice has a certain freezing point, so if dry ice is placed in a refrigerator, physical changes will occur. Here are the reasons why dry ice cannot be placed in the refrigerator.

The vaporization point of dry ice is minus 78.5 degrees Celsius and it sublimates very easily. The lowest temperature in the refrigerator freezer is -18 degrees Celsius, and dry ice can easily sublime in the refrigerator freezer.

When dry ice sublimates into carbon dioxide, it releases gas that is 1,000 times larger than the original solid dry ice. If it is placed in a certain closed environment, the gas produced by sublimation will exert great pressure on the inner wall of the sealed container. If it is placed in a refrigerator, the refrigerator door will expand open. In serious cases, the inner wall of the refrigerator will be squeezed and deformed or the sealed container will explode.

Dry ice: Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, which is obtained by condensing carbon dioxide into a colorless liquid at a pressure of 6250.5498 kPa and then rapidly evaporating it under low pressure. Carbon dioxide is a colorless and odorless gas under normal conditions. It exists naturally in the air. Although the content of carbon dioxide in the air is relatively small (about 0.03% by volume), it is one of the most important gases we know of. Dry ice is extremely volatile and sublimates into non-toxic, odorless gas carbon dioxide, which is 600-800 times larger in volume than its solid state. Therefore, dry ice cannot be stored in completely sealed containers, such as plastic bottles. Mixing dry ice with liquids can easily cause explosions.

When purchasing some frozen foods, merchants often give you some dry ice for free to maintain the low temperature during transportation. There is a saying that if citizens put dry ice and food into the refrigerator after returning home, it may cause an explosion. Is this true? Let’s take a look at the experiment done by the reporter. After the experiment, dry ice was put into an empty sealed plastic bottle. After 21 minutes and 19 seconds, the plastic bottle exploded; after adding dry ice to two sealed plastic bottles filled with water, it only took 20 seconds for the bottles to explode one after another. Firefighters reminded that, similar to plastic bottles, the refrigerator is also an enclosed space, and citizens must not put dry ice into the refrigerator when storing food.