The white blast on the drop is usually a CO2 jet: liquid carbon dioxide at about 57 bar that can't stay liquid in open air. Part boils off, the rest freezes into snow at −78 °C – the white, with moisture from the air. Gone in seconds; indoors it needs good ventilation.
The white blast is CO2 turning to snow – gone in seconds, as long as the air keeps moving.
Facts
- A CO2 jet feeds liquid carbon dioxide from a cylinder with a dip tube through a solenoid valve; the blast comes with “a strong hissing sound and a white plume of fog” (MAGIC FX), up to about 8–9 m high depending on humidity.
- In the cylinder, CO2 is liquid at about 57 bar at 20 °C – roughly 57 times normal air pressure. It cannot stay liquid above 31 °C.
- Below about 5 atmospheres CO2 has no liquid state: released into the air, part of it evaporates so fast that the rest freezes into “snow” at −78.5 °C – first seen by Thilorier in 1835.
- The plume depends on the air: one maker says that at 25% humidity or below it looks noticeably thinner.
- Makers rate CO2 jets for outdoors or well-ventilated indoor spaces: CO2 is heavier than air and can collect low down, and it is toxic even when oxygen levels are normal. The UK workplace limit is 5,000 ppm over 8 hours.
- Not every white blast is CO2: some shows now use fluid-fog jets that make the same plumes (MAGIC FX Eco2jet).
Sources
- MAGICFX CO2 JET II – User and Installation Manual (PART01875 REV 01-03, 2023) · MAGIC FX checked 15 October 2026
- MAGIC FX: CO2jet II · MAGIC FX checked 15 October 2026
- MAGIC FX: CO2 jets · MAGIC FX checked 15 October 2026
- MAGIC FX: Eco2jet · MAGIC FX checked 15 October 2026
- Club Cannon: FAQ · Club Cannon checked 15 October 2026
- Linde: Carbon dioxide Safety Data Sheet (EIGA018A, v2.7, 2024) · Linde checked 15 October 2026
- Air Liquide: Carbon Dioxide Safety Data Sheet AL004 (2022) · Air Liquide checked 15 October 2026
- Carbon dioxide · Wikipedia checked 15 October 2026
- Dry ice · Wikipedia checked 15 October 2026
- HSE: EH40/2005 Workplace exposure limits (fourth edition, 2020) · HSE checked 15 October 2026
All sound is original: synthesised for the episode, no samples, no licensed tracks. The narrator’s voice is AI-generated. General information. Features differ by software, player and version – check your own manual. Read how facts are checked and corrected.
Script
That white blast usually isn't smoke. It's carbon dioxide, kept liquid in a cylinder at about 57 times air pressure. Open the valve, and it can't stay liquid. Part of it boils off so fast that the rest freezes into snow, at minus 78 degrees. That snow, plus moisture from the air, is the white. Gone in seconds. Indoors, it needs good ventilation.
Sources last checked 15 October 2026.