461
Probably a stupid question, but will we ever have something like a microwave to make things cold? Is there a reason this can't exist?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
461 points (94.2% liked)
Asklemmy
44135 readers
606 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I expect this post in a couple days: "How do I remove a paper towel that is frozen to my bottle of wine?"
I forgot to mention that the bottle is fractured and the frozen paper towel is the only thing holding it together
I'm in this comment and I'm totally fine so stop asking.
Also it's not only a higher rate of cooling, but the dryness of the freezer makes some of the water evaporate and carry heat away with it!
Should work even better with salted wet paper towels
We used to put warm beer, ice, and salt in a cooler to cool the beer down quickly on Friday after work. It worked great for that.
The water has to be cooled too, and there's still air around it though?
I guess we're talking about direct contact, not around a container, otherwise the water turned ice may even serve as an insulator?
The water creates a better way to transfer heat from the container to the freezer because it has direct contact with the container and replaces the air around it. Yes the water needs to be cooled too, but still the process is way faster because air really is a good insulator for heat. This is why insulating materials for houses e.g. always try to maximize air content (foam, glass wool, styrofoam)
You also get evaporative cooling, as the freezer is a very low humidity environment. This is accelerating the cooling much more than any thermal conductivity the water adds.
The reverse process is why humid air makes your beverages get warm quickly when the water precipitates on a cold can/glass.
N.B. maximize air content while minimising air movement and therefore convection. Otherwise you could just have cavities in your walls for maximum air.
Correct. Convection would just annihilate your insulating effect
I have no idea why you got downvoted so much
:)