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Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

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Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

#1

Post by garyiskidding »

Generally speaking,

between a spoon and a fork, which shape would induce better dissolution and diffusion of sugar into milk/tea/coffee ?

I am wondering about this because

Forks: Their tines (usually 3-4 tines) should theoretically cause more agitation and enable better dissolution and diffusion of sugar with more "churns" while stirring.

Spoons: They act as a shallow bowl and help in serving sugar into the liquid, and can also double up and do the job of mixing it.

Strictly for the purpose of mixing the sugar into the liquid, do spoons have any design advantage over forks if we ignore the aspect that they help in transferring the heap of sugar into liquids ?

Re: Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

#2

Post by skilled »

Spoon.

The larger surface area of the spoon compared to the tines of a fork means that when a spoon is used for stirring, it moves a greater volume of liquid with each motion. The broader stirring action helps not just in moving the particles around but also in ensuring that sugar is not concentrated in one part of the liquid.

You can also test it yourself with a transparent liquid (green tea), a fork will cause the sugar to be stirred in place at the bottom.

Re: Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

#3

Post by garyiskidding »

skilled wrote: post #2

Spoon. The larger surface area of the spoon compared to the tines of a fork means that when a spoon is used for stirring, it moves a greater volume of liquid with each motion. The broader stirring action helps not just in moving the particles around but also in ensuring that sugar is not concentrated in one part of the liquid. You can also test it yourself with a transparent liquid (green tea), a fork will cause the…

Thank you .. will do this experiment.

Re: Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

#4

Post by RetroTechie »

Aeons ago, my mom used to have a tea spoon with an S-shaped cutout (so, meant for stirring not scooping). Worked pretty well. Strange thing is I have never, ever seen a spoon like that since. Not new, not as a novelty gadget, not in thrift stores / eBay etc. Don't know why.. maybe it's not that useful but the idea wasn't half bad.

Also: the smooth edge of a spoon is less likely to scratch a cup than the teeth of a fork. But probably irrelevant for normal use.

P.S. skilled is basically saying: bigger (spoon / fork / other object) mixes better.

Re: Ask HN: Spoon vs. Fork for mixing sugar in milk/tea/coffee

#5

Post by garyiskidding »

RetroTechie wrote: post #4

Aeons ago, my mom used to have a tea spoon with an S-shaped cutout (so, meant for stirring not scooping). Worked pretty well. Strange thing is I have never, ever seen a spoon like that since. Not new, not as a novelty gadget, not in thrift stores / eBay etc. Don't know why.. maybe it's not that useful but the idea wasn't half bad. Also: the smooth edge of a spoon is less likely to scratch a cup than the teeth of a fo…

While i do understand that a larger surface area of the spoon will "flap" the liquid around better, but assuming similar motion with a fork might mean a more heterogeneous mix.

Of course we haven't mentioned the intensity of mixing. A food mixer's blades appear more closer to a fork than a spoon.

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