The Wet and Dry Mystery Dry Ice VS. Ice

The Project My question: Out of ice and dry ice, which one has less friction? My hypothesis: dry ice will have less friction because it is a solidified gas, making it easier for it to glide whereas ice is a solid liquid, which is heavier.

The Process My experiment was to, using a device I built, push both ice and dry ice across two different surfaces multiple times to get clear results. Also, I flicked some dry ice down the hallway to see what would happen. All variables HAD to be covered, like making sure the pieces were the same mass and had the same surface area. However, results may not be 100% precise.

Ice Mass

Dry Ice Mass

Ice On Smooth Stone

Dry Ice On Smooth Stone

Ice on Wood

Dry Ice on Wood

Hall slide (Dry Ice)

Results I found that it was a tie between ice and dry ice, as seen in the videos, dry ice smoked ice on granite but was sourly defeated when it came to wood. Although this is true, during dry ice’s win it went so far that it went of our testing surface, however during its downfall, it was beaten by only a few inches. surfaceIceDry ice Granite countertop 12 in.> 36 in. plywood10 in.3.5 in.

Theories Dry ice won first for the obvious reason, a gas is less dense than a liquid, and density is a key variable of friction. In the case of wood though, the gas went into the grooves of the wood, meaning the cushion of gas was gone and there was more friction. When the ice slid across the grooves, the melting ice created fillers for them and was able to slide a few inches more, but this still allowed friction to take its toll every time it hit a flat area.

Conclusion At the end, on surfaces that are smooth enough to keep sublimating gas out, this enabled the cushion allowing dry ice to smoke ice however, credit should also be given to ice because it won under some circumstances. This being said, my hypothesis was partially correct.