MacNetix

wow, it sounds like it actually would work. I see what you are saying about the match going out, but I'd likely set it up with a torch that lights it so I'm not anywhere near it. Would gasoline be an acceptable fuel for this then? How quickly would the gas melt before I light it? Maybe I would just need to let it start melting and then light the fumes around it. That way I'm not just lighting a corner and can actually burn it uniformly. The whole idea here is to make it look nice. I will probably make a mold to pour the gas in, then place that mold in with the dry ice. Once frozen I can remove it from the mold and place it on my torch platform and burn the ice sculpture Thanks for all the advice. I'm very excited to try this out. And don't worry, I realize how extremely dangerous this can potentially be and will be very careful!

I have been speculating what would happen if you lit a block of frozen fuel (like white gas, kerosene, or lamp oil) on fire? I know that it will not burn while it is still frozen, but once you start to apply fire, I imagine it would melt and then the fumes would be able to ignite. The fuel would have to be frozen with dry ice or maybe something even colder. I'm not sure if the fuel would instantly thaw and explode... or what? If it did explode would it be the same as throwing a match into the same amount of fuel in a bucket, or would it be smaller/larger? What I'd love to see it do is to just slowly melt and burn (maybe with increasing intensity as it gets hotter and melts faster). I'm tempted to try this experiment out on a small scale, and would love some scientific advise beforehand. Any thoughts?