Dry Ice Cauldron: Sublimation Fog (3D)

Cauldron Controls

Dry ice amount / sublimation rate 60%

Ambient humidity 55%

Ambient temperature 18°C

Cauldron Readout

Dry ice remaining

100%

Fog droplets active

Dense, freshly nucleated fog (bright)
Dissipating fog — warmed & thinned
Solid CO₂ (dry ice) block in water

How it works

Solid carbon dioxide (dry ice, −78.5 °C) sublimates — it turns directly from a solid to a gas, skipping the liquid phase entirely, because at ordinary atmospheric pressure CO₂'s triple point lies above 5 atm. When the dry ice is submerged in warm water, heat transfer is fast and the escaping CO₂ gas bubbles up cold and dense, chilling the water vapor already present in the surrounding air.

That chilled water vapor condenses into countless microscopic liquid droplets — the visible white "fog" is not CO₂ gas itself (which is invisible) but condensed water, exactly like breath fog or a cloud. The fog/CO₂ mixture is colder and denser than the ambient air around it, so instead of rising like steam it sinks, spills over the cauldron's rim, and cascades down the outside walls to pool along the ground — visible convection driven purely by density, not by any fan or force.

Sublimation rate — how much dry ice is present and how fast it turns to gas; more ice feeds more fog and depletes the block over time.
Humidity — more water vapor in the air means more material available to condense, thickening the visible fog.
Temperature — warmer ambient air re-heats the cold fog faster, shrinking and dissipating it sooner as it spreads.

t = 0.0 s · ice = 100%

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