Dry Ice Skips a Step

(patter — fast, silly, tongue-twisting)

Oh listen to the story of a most peculiar trick — A thing so very sneaky and remarkably quick! Most solids go to liquid in the usual routine — But some of them skip RIGHT OVER to the gaseous scene!

Skip-a-step! Skip-a-step! Solidic to Aiery! Never was a LiQuo in between — now isn't that scary? Sublimation! Sublimation! Sublima-ta-tion ways!

Consider if you please the frozen CO-two — They call it dry ice 'cause it never wets like dew! You plop it in the punch bowl, it bubbles out a fog — But look around: no puddle! Not a drop upon the log!

(gasp) Where's the liquid? (shrug) NONE!

The molecules were locked up tight, a perfect little square — Then BOOP! They got a bump of heat and LEAPT into the air!

And frost upon the windowpane on winter mornings chill Can vanish in the sunlight without a water spill!

(faster!) Sub! Li! Ma! Tion! Solid to a gas without a liquid operation! Sub! Li! Ma! Tion! Shortcut through the middle with a molecular vacation!

(final kid-chorus shout) DRY ICE DON'T DRIP — DRY ICE JUST ZIPS!

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Key Concepts: Sublimation = solid directly to gas, no liquid middle | Dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) is the showcase example | Frost can vanish without melting | Meteorites streak as they heat up fast enough to skip liquid | Low pressure can make sublimation easier

Character: Solidic leaps straight to Aiery, LiQuo watches confused from the sidelines | First "skip-a-step" scene between Solidic and Aiery | "Dry ice don't drip — dry ice just zips!"