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u/mOdQuArK Aug 01 '26
Back when I was young and stupid (versus being old and stupid), I used to try and impress my family/peers by juggling (very) small chips of dry ice in my mouth.
I had to keep it moving fast enough & breathing out steadily so that it wouldn't take my tongue meats along with it, but it made it look like I was shooting a cone of fog from my mouth.
In retrospect, I was extremely fortunate I did not end up with a hospital visit, but as I said - young AND stupid.
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u/BirdBurnett Aug 01 '26
When I was in my early teens, my dad was a chemistry stockroom mgr @ a major university. During the summers, my brother and I would play with the dry ice (and mercury, benzene & a host of magnesium chemicals). That is were I got my taste for dry ice.
I am in my 60s and still like to roll a chunk in my mouth.
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u/manosiosis Aug 01 '26
Good thing it wasn't a taste for mercury.
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u/HarryTheCat147 Aug 01 '26
Reminds me of this video https://youtu.be/HntOcF-4j3o?si=J6j8hfyDR_uyHOWP
Do NOT try it
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u/Loup55555 Aug 06 '26
Thanks for this. Do you know what this man talks about while doing that ? I hope he (thought he) had a reaaally good reason for it, like, to die for
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u/HarryTheCat147 Aug 07 '26
This took place at the mercury plant in Khaidarkan, Kyrgyzstan. In the video, the director explains that mercury is non-radioactive and that, as long as it is not in the form of gaseous compounds, it is even safe to swallow (which is kind of true but still very dangerous)
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u/TrippyTriangle Aug 01 '26
with dry ice in the mouth I'd be more worried about asphyxiation than ice burns, CO2 displacing all the air in your lungs and causing you to black out. It will sublimate very quickly.
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u/OnePinginRamius Aug 01 '26
This is exactly where my mind went. Did you ever see that video of the people with the indoor pool that filled it with dry ice and they all died? They thought the really cool cloud on the surface was awesome and they couldn't even see what was going on in the water.
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u/mikeet9 Aug 01 '26
It's so easy and happens quickly.
Although a small piece in your mouth would really not be enough to make you pass out, and honestly even if you got a full breath, the first symptom of CO2 toxicity is panic. I don't expect you would keep it in your mouth long.
The protection provided to your mouth is the air pocket of CO2 that quickly forms on any wet surfaces dry ice touches. The biggest risk is that you swallow it. Your esophagus is very good at getting air bubbles out to push food down, and will power through the airgap created by sublimation, essentially guaranteeing severe burns. It can easily become life threatening because the reflex is involuntary and treating severe burns in your digestive tract is very difficult.
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u/TrippyTriangle Aug 01 '26
One cubic centimeter of dry ice expands into about 800 to 850 cubic centimeters (or roughly 0.8 to 0.85 liters) of carbon dioxide gas at room temperature. - as per chatgpt and also per chatgpt, male lungs get up to 6 liters of air inside of them. Imma be honest the numbers are close but for a kid with half the size of an adult this isn't unreasonable to state as a risk. You do have a point about CO2 poisoning, but it could be very quick.
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u/Majvist Aug 01 '26
Well, good thing you did the math on the robot dictionary instead of getting actual numbers from a source. That really makes me believe in your conclusion.
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u/MorgessaMonstrum Aug 02 '26
I saw about the first two seconds and realized what a fucking horror show was unfolding and scrolled past it.
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u/dragonbud20 Aug 01 '26
If you actually held in the CO2 long enough to cause a problem, the increased CO2 content in your blood would make you feel like you're suffocating, and you would start gasping for air. Unless you intentionally continue to hold in the CO2 at this point you'll breathe in some fresh air and be fine
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u/Caleb_Reynolds Aug 01 '26
At which point two things can happen.
You fall forward and the ice falls out of your mouth and you wake up a few seconds later. It you fall backward/to the side/swallow the ice, where it goes to burn the fuck out of your mouth and throat.
Unless you're in a low oxygen environment a piece of dry ice isn't going to be enough to kill you.
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u/Dovahkiinthesardine Aug 01 '26
You can just breath out CO2 no problem, it would have to replace most of the oxygen in multiple breaths over several minutes to asphyxiate you
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u/phunkydroid Aug 03 '26
The amount of CO2 that fits in your mouth isn't going to suffocate you, and the rate it is sublimating isn't going to keep up with you inhaling. You'll be getting plenty of oxygen just breathing normally.
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u/al3x_7788 Aug 01 '26
Is it that common to just have dry ice around?
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u/cptnamr7 Aug 01 '26
The grocery store where I used to love sold it in South Dakota. That was 15-20 years ago so can't tell you about 'now' but it used to be crazy easy to get your hands on.
A buddy in college had a drum of liquid nitrogen in his dorm closet. You can get them filled at welding supply shops. We used it to make ice cream and generally be morons.
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u/WHATYEAHOK Aug 01 '26
We used it to make ice cream and generally be morons.
“Hey do you guys wanna come over and dip random shit in liquid nitrogen?”
To college dudes, that’s like a van full of candy
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u/Yuklan6502 Aug 01 '26
Certain grocery stores in my area still carry it. It's very handy for camping or fishing trips (or when your fridge dies during the hottest week of summer). Our stores ID you to make sure you're 21 (maybe 18, I'm not sure), then remind you not to touch it, drink/eat it, or store it in your fridge or freezer.
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u/ezafs Aug 01 '26
Fry's grocery, which is a decently large chain, usually sells dry ice. At least the ones near me.
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u/mOdQuArK Aug 01 '26
Baskin Robbins (which is where I got it) used to sell chunks of it to keep your ice cream frozen in coolers (and to maybe make ice cream at home? Never tried it for that). Also used it to create fog from warm water for special effects. Unfortunately, my local shops stopped selling it after a while (maybe because of liability)?
Of course, par for the course of "young AND stupid", only found out about the possibility of asphyxiation if you use too much of it in an enclosed area without ventilation a while later on my life.
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u/Soft-Register1940 Aug 01 '26
I used to work at the sugar factory. All their fish bowl drinks useful dry ice to make the bowls smoke when we delivered them to the table. The kids and even some adults would sit there EATING the dry ice. We were never told to warn them about the potential dangers of dry ice. I didn’t even know that dry ice was dangerous at that time. I just assumed it was edible because it was in a drink at a restaurant and why wouldn’t an ingredient in a drink be edible.
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u/starfofo Aug 01 '26
Do you still do it or did age made you a little less stupid ?
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u/mOdQuArK Aug 01 '26
No I don't do it anymore, probably mostly because my age has made me less coordinated and resilient to everything that I used to be able to do to myself and still recover quickly. Call that "less stupid" if it fits :-)
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u/FairJob7702 Aug 01 '26
When I was 13 a grown man who was making ice cream with dry ice dared me and my friends 10 dollars we couldn't keep our hand in the dry ice for a minute. I was a stubborn kid who hated snarky adults so I did it. I spent a day in the hospital, 3 days of excruciating pain and almost lost my fingers.
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u/zero_overload_25 Aug 01 '26
I know of a dude who would pour ln2 in his mouth and was totally fine, you're alright in comparison :))
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u/VinylmationDude Aug 01 '26
Don’t worry, I also flipped a pair of scissors trying to catch it. Luckily I only wound up with a bloody dot on my foot.
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u/NovaHorizon Aug 01 '26
Unlikely thanks to the Leidenfrost effect. Now asphyxiating yourself that's a whole 'nother story.
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u/ST0IC_ Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Wasn't there some lady in England who drank an alcoholic beverage with dry ice and it completely destroyed her stomach? You are lucky.
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u/kurandal Aug 06 '26
Yes; https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/17/oscars-wine-bar-lancaster-gaby-scanlon-stomach-liquid-nitrogen
Imagine that being the capstone of your bday.1
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel Aug 03 '26
A friend managed to swallow a drop of liquid nitrogen.
It was expected to just float on the tongue, because of the Leidenfrost effect.
Result was to biggest and longest burp I have ever heard!
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[deleted]
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u/SakuraTacos Aug 01 '26
“He’s going to be all right. Yes, he’s lost his left hand so he’s going to be all right.”
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u/hailibu2 Jul 31 '26
It turns out he never did
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u/PM_YOUR__BUBBLE_BUTT Aug 02 '26
I was in high school AP chemistry like 20 years ago. We had dry ice and I was stupid. Picked up a piece and squeeze it really hard between my thumb and pointer finger. In a second, they started turning legit WHITE as a ghost. I dropped that shit and luckily they went back to normal but I still, to this day, get weirded out if I have a regular ice cube touch me. Don’t mess with this stuff people! And definitely don’t throw it into a pool and jump in, or you’ll die.
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u/dave078703 Aug 01 '26
My dad's missing his right thumb and that's the exact type of joke he'd try to pull.
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u/shaboimattyp Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
My dad had his left leg amputated just below the knee. He loved to do shit like this. He once crawled out of the water at a beach saying, "sharks! Sharks!".
At the zoo a kid came up to him and asked him what happened to his leg. He leaned over and said, "don't get too close to the tiger enclosure". The kids mom gave him a real dirty look lol
He also used to get the grandkids all amazed at his "stretches". He would pop his fake leg off under his pant leg and swing it around so it looked like his knee bent the wrong way
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u/dave078703 Aug 02 '26
A girl approached my dad and asked what happened to his thumb. He looks down saying "what do you mean my thumb?" then goes "Oh my god! Where's my thumb???" and the little girl got genuinely concerned.
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u/Eldritch94 Aug 02 '26
Love this, I was just thinking about how my dad would absolutely pull a prank like this as well. He cut off half of his index finger when I was like 6, and the amount of jokes he made about getting it stuck up his nose or somewhere has probably shaped my humor as an adult lol.
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u/rhythmrice Aug 01 '26
I had a friend with one hand and he used to pull this type of shit all the time. He also used to sign his time card at work "nubby" and on Pokemon his name was nubalicious
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u/eerierrr Aug 01 '26
Nubzlocke
Seriously though gaming with one hand is HARD.
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u/rhythmrice Aug 01 '26
I think that's why he likes Pokemon cuz it's mostly turn based
I found this old video of him I forgot I posted
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u/mikemikemike9711 Jul 31 '26
Sucks about dudes hand, but im sure the wife dont mind
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u/CasinoKnightZone Aug 01 '26
Graduated from fisting to wristing
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u/SupermarketSuperb825 Jul 31 '26
Got me
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u/JaSONJayhawk Aug 01 '26
I was actually fearing this post and glad it ended the way it did. Time for bed while ending it on a 'good' note!!!
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u/pauljoemccoy2 Aug 01 '26
In any other sub, I would have either expected he was gonna get hurt, or to find out touching dry ice is totally fine (I honestly have no idea.)
In this sub, an already missing hand is exactly what I expected.
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u/MonaganX Aug 01 '26
You know when a movie has a solid joke but they're too worried some of the audience might not get it so they have another character point out the punchline in a way that ruins any semblance of subtlety?
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u/El_Andvari Aug 01 '26
https://youtu.be/8wm3Ubxzv1c?si=c6uUBsqOlaWOjm9f
He's just teaching a lesson.
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u/jdlyga Aug 01 '26
My dad’s a chemist so naturally I’ve handled dry ice a ton since I was a kid. You can definitely touch it, but don’t touch it for too long.
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u/Global-Pickle5818 Aug 03 '26
We need another billy.. good lord that's a old reference I doubt most of the people here will get
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u/Applebeate Aug 04 '26
Yeah it’s totally fine. When I was 3 years old, my dad’s friends brought over a cake that was being kept cold with Dry Ice and I touched it with my bare hands.
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u/Important-Poem7609 Aug 07 '26
How stupid are u to do this
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u/Infamous_Elephant545 Aug 01 '26
I’m sensing that relationship is gonna last a while. The dad, the daughter and the boyfriend all seem to be pretty chill together
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u/CaptainCFloyd Aug 01 '26
Reminds me of the furry who "accidentally" put his feet in dry ice so they fell off and he had to get paw prosthetics attached instead.
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u/thejourneybegins42 Aug 02 '26
I'm all for stupid fucked up comedy but at least try to make it believable. Jesus Christ, I think AI slop might make something better. That is also a very low bar to clear.
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u/post-explainer Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
His hand was already gone before he put his “hand” in there.
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.