Mental Floss test-drives 30 life hacks to see if they actually work:
[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #1,304,174)
Some of these, I suspect he either did them wrong or just didn’t try hard enough. Also, he gets WAY too excited when some of them succeed.
Still, it’s worth a watch. Might learn something useful.
8: I had previously tried the boiling over trick. Totally didn’t work.
10: I’m actually really good at folding fitted sheets. Never seen it on the internet, though.
14: Floss to cut cake… I thought that was just common knowledge.
22: Wow!
23: Already tried it. Not impressed. When I saw it on the internet it showed using a can of beer rather than a bottle.
He gave it a pass, but he also didn’t have a control. Someone needs to try this with one beer wrapped in a wet paper towel and one not wrapped in anything. If I had beer in the house I would try it right now.
Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
@1 – re 23: it would also work for soda, water, or any beverage in a small container.
I’m inclined to think it’s a good idea, because conduction moves heat faster than convection, and the thin layer of water freezes quickly, and there’s a LOT of heat removed during the ice crystallization process
I have a new youtube subscription thanks!
Harvey,
Re: “It would also work for soda, water, or any beverage in a small container.” Yeah, but why would I want to drink any of those things?
Re: conduction. The beer is already wrapped in aluminum or glass and they both have higher thermal conductivity* than water, so my hypothesis is the wet paper towel will actually hinder the beer cooling. I’m going to try it after I buy some beer. I could be wrong; I’m not completely sure what I’m talking about.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities
@4 – Interesting hypothesis, but I’m still betting on conduction vs convection for the win.
Freezing water actually releases heat, so any freezing water will actually (very slightly) heat up whatever it is surrounding (this is why citrus farmers have sprinklers as a last resort to save their fruit from the cold). Also, ice is a decent insulator (which explains the existence of igloos). Air+Ice – like you would get with a wet paper towel – is an even better insulator.
All that being said, air is a really crappy conductor of heat to solids. So while the icy paper towel would help prevent reaching the temperature of the freezer for a time, that’s not the point – the point is merely to cool down the drink, which having anything cold next to it is better than having it all on its lonesome. A much better idea would be to cover it with all those frozen vegetables you have taking up space. Also, while your freezer is trying to freeze the water in the paper towel, your drink is trying to melt what ice has formed, and that takes a lot of heat, which adds to the cooling power of the hack. It mostly depends on the thermal balance between the three things, and for a while the paper towel will be taking out more heat than the freezer could do alone.
@6 – I think you win with the frozen veggies thing.
And a personal hack, if you’re in a BIG hurry:
Big bowl of water
Lots of ice
Salt
Single-serving beverage in closed container
Combine, stir continuously with big spoon for 2 minutes = cold beverage
Okay, I did an actual scientific study and found I was wrong. I put three cans in the freezer with nothing, three in with wet paper towels and three that I covered with a frozen bag of peas.
Five minutes. Nothing: 27.9°(C); Wet towel: 26.2°; Frozen peas: 23.1°
Ten minutes. Nothing: 25.7°; Wet towel: 22.5°; Frozen peas: 18.9°
Fifteen minutes. Nothing: 23.1°; Wet towel: 18.8°; Frozen peas: 15.7°
So there you have it: I was wrong and wet paper towel guy was more right, but frozen veggies guy kicked wet paper towel guy’s ass.
Pingback: IMAO » Blog Archive » How to Have a Cold Beer in 15 Minutes (Seriously)