The crew from Modern Marvels on the History Channel visited our science lab back in July to play with some really cold science experiments. In other words, the liquid nitrogen was flowing and the onions were exploding! Mark your calendars… Modern Marvels: Deep Freeze will officially be airing on the History Channel on Tuesday, September 25th at 8pm EST.

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I’m not sure if Halloween was better for me as a kid or right now as an adult… okay, it’s better now! It’s no secret that I make the most out of every Halloween - from the oozing slime at school to the ghoulish fun at home, Halloween is the perfect time to let your creativity out for an evening of fun.

I think it all started growing up in a family where my parents turned Halloween into a full fledged show. I learned not to bother my Dad after about two o’clock in the afternoon on Halloween because he was getting the entry way of our home ready for those poor unsuspecting Trick-or-Treaters. My favorite memory was getting to sit in his home-made electric chair - complete with blinking lights and giant sparks of static electricity coming from the metal hat. It was great! When the doorbell rang, it was showtime… and my job was to yell at the top of my lungs, “Hey Mister… all I wanted was a lousy piece of candy!” We never gave away much candy on Halloween - no one ever stuck around long enough to ask for candy, but lots of kids brought back their parents for the show. We always ended up with a house filled with people who loved Halloween as much as we did. I guess it just rubbed off on me… and now it’s my job to teach my three little boys the finer points of making Halloween fun.

Here are a few of our favorite Halloween science experiments…

Dry Ice Fun - Dry ice experiments and bubbling potions

Dry Ice Bubble - Make a dry ice crystal ball filled with smoke

Don’t miss the Exploding Pumpkins video

Note: The instructions for the Exploding Pumpkin are not available on this site for liability reasons. However, it is a favorite demo of chemistry teachers everywhere. If you want to do this demo, it’s time to make an appointment to visit your favorite chemistry teacher.

Real Slime! - Uncover the secret recipe for slime

Instant Worms - Make a batch of ooey gooey worms

Halloween Science Smoke Ring Launcher - Steve’s signature smoke ring trash can launcher

Elmer’s Glue Slime - The classic Borax and glue recipe

Bleeding Paper - This one is freaky!

Quicksand - This stuff feels like the real thing!

Screaming Cup - Make a weird, eerie sound using a cup and string

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Assuming you have your dry ice by now, let’s get into our first demonstration.

Remember, wear your safety glasses and gloves. Do not ever put dry ice in your mouth. It will burn!!

Using a pair of kitchen tongs, grab a chunk of dry ice (listen to the screeching sound when the metal touches the ice) and place it on a dish. On another dish, place an ordinary ice cube. Then ask the kids which one will melt first. Fairly basic stuff, but the kids will learn that the ice cube will turn from a solid into a liquid, while the dry ice will disappear completely. It is important for students to understand that dry ice doesn’t obey the same laws of nature.

The most famous thing you can do with dry ice is to drop it in water. Something I learned from a special effects artist was to fill a metal drum half full with water, drop some dry ice into it to produce “smoke” “steam” or “water vapor”. The warmer the water, the more water vapor it made. Turning on a fan blew all of that water vapor out.

For your own experiment, start with warm water for great bubbles and water vapor. I like to use a beaker because I have no fear that it will crack, so find a container that is not going to break. A Pyrex mixing container would be ideal.

Remember, you don’t want there to be any possibility that a child can touch the dry ice, so keep the container away from them.

I have found a plastic graduated cylinder that scientists use. I half fill this with water, add a couple of drops of food coloring, drop a chunk of dry ice into it, and watch the bubbling action. Sometimes I like to take some of those light sticks, break them up and drop into the container.

These are ideas to add to your bag of tricks that are a little different from what other people do.

Take a long cylinder, or a bigger container, add a squirt of liquid soap and almost instantaneously, the bubbles will rise. But instead of seeing water vapor, all that steam is trapped inside the bubbles. It is fun to reach up and touch the bubbles as they emerge from the container, because when you pop them, all that steam emerges from the bubbles. It is almost impossible, especially with young children, to keep them from coming forward to touch the bubbles. It is a great way to occupy the kids for hours. This is your secret weapon!

If you are a middle school teacher, there are other ways to produce different color effects, like using cabbage juice.

I even thought it would be great to use dry ice to produce clouds at our wedding. My wife always reminds me on our wedding anniversary of the incredible special effects, like filling the room with “steam” and having our guests coughing and spluttering, when a whole 30lb of dry ice was dropped into a 55 gallon drum of warm water, just as we completed our vows. I do! I do! Then Cloud Nine!

Happy Halloween everyone! And stay safe!

Listen to my podcast where I share some of my favorite dry ice demos

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Halloween is right around the corner and it’s a perfect time to do some really cool demonstrations.

Watch the video of Steve doing cool dry ice demonstrations.

First you need to get your dry ice.

Your grocery store may have it, but if they don’t, you may have to look elsewhere. Years ago, Baskin Robins used to carry dry ice, because it was the only way to keep ice cream cold in the bottom of the cooler. That has mostly gone by the wayside, but there are still some old-fashioned ice cream shops around that may have dry ice. Another place you may be able to find it is at a fish or meat market.

Now, depending on where you are in the country will depend on how reluctant the person is to sell you dry ice. Safety issues are obviously paramount, and it is getting tougher and tougher to find a source.

Most of the time you will have to go to Customer Services and ask for it. Usually, I introduce myself, say that I am a teacher, and I will be doing some demonstrations for which I will need about 5-10lbs of dry ice. This assures them that I know what I am doing.

Ask them to reserve it for you, especially if you plan on doing your demonstrations at Halloween. I like to get my dry ice on the day that I will be doing the demonstration because, as you know, dry ice is not actually ice at all. It is frozen carbon dioxide. Instead of melting, it turns into a gas, and you may be wondering where your dry ice went to if you purchased it too early.

I have a cooler I use for the dry ice, some safety glasses, a small hammer and some leather gardening gloves, all of which are absolutely crucial from a safety point of view. At -110 deg to -78deg, touching dry ice will burn the skin, so gloves and safety glasses must be worn at all times.

10lbs of dry ice will cost you around $5 - $10. Put it in a brown paper bag, in fact double bag it, then drop it 3 or 4 times to break it up into smaller pieces, and you’re ready to go.

Tomorrow we will look at some really cool demonstrations we can do with dry ice. So get your materials ready!

Listen to my podcast on Halloween and dry ice

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