Chemists have calculated that it takes no more than 11 pounds of potatoes to make a pair of galoshes. From these tubers, they extract alcohol, process it accordingly, and turn it into rubber. Making galoshes from rubber is quite straightforward.
However, during the fermentation of potato starch, not only alcohol is produced, but also carbon dioxide. In the past, this gas was released into the atmosphere and simply disappeared. Nowadays, carbon dioxide is used to create what is known as dry ice. It’s colder than regular ice and has another fascinating property: instead of melting, it transforms into gas and evaporates. One moment there’s a piece of ice, and the next—it’s gone.
There are plenty of amusing stories related to dry ice. One such incident took place in a restaurant in New York City.
A young man sat down at a table and ordered a bowl of soup. The waiter brought the soup and stepped away to attend to another table. Suddenly, the young man began to bang his spoon irritably against the bowl. The waiter quickly returned.
“What did you bring me?” the young man asked. “This isn’t soup; it’s a block of ice!”
The waiter couldn’t believe his eyes: there was indeed ice in the bowl, with pieces of meat, circles of fat, and pasta frozen inside. Trying to avoid drawing attention from other diners, the waiter took the bowl of ice away and brought back a fresh serving of hot soup, steaming with delicious aroma. But as soon as he stepped away from the table, the young man called him back again: the soup in the bowl was frozen solid.
This happened several times until the unusual occurrence caught the attention of all the patrons.
The young man was an employee at a factory that had recently begun producing dry ice from carbon dioxide in America. On behalf of his employers, he was performing these transformations with the soup in a restaurant frequented by prominent businessmen who might be interested in the remarkable properties of this new product.
Dry ice has a temperature that can only be found in the coldest places on Earth—minus 109 degrees Fahrenheit. With a simple, specialized setup, it can be produced anywhere, at any time of the year, and in any quantity.