I made a really crude one of these a long time ago. Seeing the trails live is really strange and cool. If you can only get weak isopropyl you can remove water pretty easily by salting it [0]. Drawing the alcohol off the top with a turkey baster or similar is probably the best way with typical household equipment. If you don’t have one of those, you can do it in a water bottle, let the water settle out with a bottle upside down, poke a small hole in the base of the bottle then just partially open the lid over sink and let it drain until you get to the alcohol. Just remember that this stuff is now super flammable so be careful. (Salting doesn’t really work with ethyl alcohol so save your vodka)
Dry ice is pretty easy to get at Graeter‘s if you have one of those local. Just don’t store it in a closed container. Gloves are a great idea of course but I also advise wearing thick socks or slippers when you’re using it. Stepping on even a very small piece of dry ice in bare feet is experience you will remember.
Dry ice is a lot of fun but doesn’t last long. If you go through this, check youtube for other experiments and things to do, and buy a little extra. Just remember never put it in a closed container, it will almost certainly explode. Physics doesn’t care about you, respect the material. (edit: I just checked, heat of sublimation of CO2 is approximately 570 kJ per kilogram. A stick of dynamite has approximately 1 MJ. There’s a lot of energy cached in those blocks.)
Great point. There have definitely been some tragedies when people play with dry ice without understanding the dangers. Don’t throw it in the pool and go swimming or try to cover yourself with fog, etc etc. Study up.
The link says 90% isopropyl alcohol but I've seen many instructions that suggest using a high percentage methyl alcohol is better. But methyl alcohol is quite toxic if you get it on your skin it can be absorbed and cause many problems (blindness for one).
I've never built one but it's always something I plan on building.
Yes I'd certainly use isopropyl alcohol. I'm pretty sure I can get it with a purity of 95% or more at my local pharmacy.
Dry ice is the other problem it's not something readily available in my town. I don't think regular ice is cold enough especially when using isopropyl alcohol which isn't as volatile as methyl alcohol (methanol).
