After things that go boom, is there anything cooler (pun intended) to play with than dry ice?

In a previous life, I worked on (then classified) laminate materials. The way we got the sticky pre-preg graphite and carbon materials to behave was to chill them with dry ice.

I was gingerly handling it with gloves when the lead tech in the lab cocked his head, walked over and put a picked up a piece, bare handed and held it to my exposed skin.

He said, "It's call sublimation. Just don't try this with water ice from the ice box." (the same box where the dry ice was kept and thus a great deal colder than the ice in the freezer at home)

I had fun putting a chunk in the bottom of 500ml beaker, putting hot water in (so it would bubble and fog nicely) and then walk across the hall just in front of a bunch of grade school kids on a tour - sipping away. heh heh, the old mad scientist gig.

Okay - it was silly, but I'd do it again in a second. Except I wouldn't actually drink it. That stuff tasted foul.

Rob