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Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

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Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#61
post #47
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reverse microwaves? The author of the post must be completely, 100% scientifically illiterate.

The headline writer is simply speaking figuratively, for maximum effect in constrained space. This is easily understood by a general audience, but sometimes misunderstood by the extra-literal/extra-critical mindset often seen in HN threads. In the headline, 'Microwave' stands synecdochally for 'microwave oven' and then also for the more-general category 'fast-heating appliance'. When there are multiple ways to interp…

I voted you up for truth.

But... don't discount the profound disappointment that a headline like that generates in those of us who do know how a microwave works. We were teased with the idea of learning something we thought would alter our understanding of the universe -- some sort of microwave version of the peltier effect[1] -- only to find out it was something as pedestrian as poetic license.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#62

Looks about the same as spinning by beer in my freezers ice tray for about 20 seconds. I would love to know how long you have to wait until the can of beer won't explode.

According to that website, because they form a "Rankine vortex" in the beverage itself, the carbonation is not disturbed. Not sure I buy that, but that's their sales pitch.

a 'Rankine vortex' is a fancy name for a very simple theoretical model.

It's just a circular vortex in which u~1/r and there may or may not be a solid body core. A lot of spinny vortices are like this.

I'm not sure where they think their rankine vortex is - whether in the bottle or round the outside - or whether they are accounting for friction when calling it that.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#63
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reverse microwaves? The author of the post must be completely, 100% scientifically illiterate.

I think she meant reverse microwave oven. As in, rather than heating fast, it cools fast.

That is like calling ice a reverse fire. If the technology doesn't have anything to do with microwaves, I don't see how the "reverse microwave" adds anything but confusion. It's not as though "chills beer in 45 seconds" is so vague as to require a strained microwave analogy.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#64
post #43
post #38

Instead, why not put CO2 dry-ice cubes in your drink? Or a spritz of liquid nitrogen? Or drop in a shot glass of liquid helium? Or super-cooled metal balls?

Dry ice will, ironically, make your soda go completely flat as it constantly agitates the drink as it boils/sublimes away.

Cubes of frozen alcohol might work. Maybe with a little frozen C02 mixed in for certain drinks.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#65
I'm skeptical about the energy claims. How much of a difference is the continuous cooling of a can of beverage going to cost when you still have to keep the refrigerator running anyway?

Plus energy grids prefer a gradual and predictable energy draw than a sudden spike. Otherwise we end up with scenarios like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slDAvewWfrA

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#66
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salt, and water to increase the contact area with the can/bottle (unless you want to wait for the ice to melt).

Since we are going off on a tangent, a cool camping hack when you don't have ice is to stuff a beer in a tube sock, dunk it in water, and hang/tie it to a tree branch in the shade. If there is even a touch of wind it will be nice and cold in 10 minutes.

I wonder if you wound up the sock and let it spin if you'd get something virtually equivalent to this machine.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#67
post #45

I'm too lazy to dig up the kickstarter project. But basically you can accomplish the same result (chilling beer quickly) with better results by attaching a beer to the end of a drill and spinning it in a bucket of ice.

Spin Chill [1].

1: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1139594493/spin-chill-wa...

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#68
Homebrewers have been doing this by hand for years. I do this often at parties when I don't have space in the fridge.

Fill a pitcher half full of ice, add cold water to above the ice, and a bunch of salt. Insert bottle, and spin by hand for 30-60 seconds.

This device saves on the cleanup time, in exchange for having another permanent appliance on the counter.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#70
post #61
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The headline writer is simply speaking figuratively, for maximum effect in constrained space. This is easily understood by a general audience, but sometimes misunderstood by the extra-literal/extra-critical mindset often seen in HN threads. In the headline, 'Microwave' stands synecdochally for 'microwave oven' and then also for the more-general category 'fast-heating appliance'. When there are multiple ways to interp…

I voted you up for truth. But... don't discount the profound disappointment that a headline like that generates in those of us who do know how a microwave works. We were teased with the idea of learning something we thought would alter our understanding of the universe -- some sort of microwave version of the peltier effect[1] -- only to find out it was something as pedestrian as poetic license. [1] https://en.wikipe…

Those who know physics would hopefully know that a cooling microwave would be a blatant violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
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