Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon • Hacker News Board

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#11

Post by spullara » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 7:03 AM UTC

Reminds me of a correction I sent to The Straight Dope many years ago: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/851/why-do-you-blow...

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#12

Post by gregschlom » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 7:18 AM UTC

> This is why physicists need to talk to chemists once in a while.

Reminded-me of this xkcd strip: http://xkcd.com/435/

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#13

Post by juiceandjuice » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 7:23 AM UTC

gregschlom wrote: post #12

> This is why physicists need to talk to chemists once in a while. Reminded-me of this xkcd strip: http://xkcd.com/435/

I didn't understand that comment... was he insinuating physicists don't know thermodynamics? The original question is pretty basic.

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#14

Post by thret » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 7:26 AM UTC

indrax wrote: post #2

Assume a spherical spoon...

in a vacuum...

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#15

Post by ern » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 8:42 AM UTC

I also remember my grandfather using saucering to cool hot tea down, I finally have an explanation for why it works.

I wonder why the practice went out of fashion. Do paper doilies send a signal that the saucer is not to be used to hold liquids?

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#16

Post by drstrangevibes » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 9:26 AM UTC

bend spoon into a u-shape and stick the other end in a cup of liquid nitrogen

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#17

Post by kingsley_20 » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 9:52 AM UTC

edge17 wrote: post #3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-surEvJXj34

This is the traditional way of serving coffee in south India: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3499/3281237995_091cdeac67.jp.... Basically, you get a cup and a bowl to pour it back and forth with.

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#18

Post by nivertech » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 11:07 AM UTC

try putting cooling heat-pipe into your hot cup of coffee - your fingers will burn instantly.

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#19

Post by maxbRuns » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 11:12 AM UTC

juiceandjuice wrote: post #13

gregschlom wrote: post #12

> This is why physicists need to talk to chemists once in a while. Reminded-me of this xkcd strip: http://xkcd.com/435/

I didn't understand that comment... was he insinuating physicists don't know thermodynamics? The original question is pretty basic.

I think he was saying that although physicists generally understand the principles involved, a chemist might have a better sense of the relative magnitudes of the different effects that come into play in cooling a solution, since chemists have to perform this task routinely.

Re: Cooling a cup of coffee with help of a spoon

#20

Post by ramki » Thu, Feb 17, 2011, 11:13 AM UTC

on a completely different note, I like my coffee hot :)