Timeline for Why do my "steel ice cubes" have water in them?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 2023 at 16:22 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @user3819867 I imagine the sink vs float aspect won't make much difference - either way, there is one face of the cube that is basically useless for heat transfer. With a floating cube it's the top face, with the sinking cube it's the bottom face. Only a small amount of the ice floats out of the water entirely. | |
| Jan 3, 2023 at 9:33 | comment | added | user3819867 | @NuclearHoagie "But it would cool fastest with just ice" - A single steel cube fully submerges while a single ice cube stays afloat, I'm too dumb to calculate if that makes a difference. In addition one could machine a metal cube that melts the ice faster than the water would thaw by itself, it all comes down to increasing the surface area more than the barrier's insulation effect. | |
| Nov 29, 2021 at 14:53 | comment | added | JDługosz | BTW, I looked at a product like this, and the metal cubes are filled with antifreeze! You do not get the huge code storage of the phase change, nor its ability to hold at the freezing temperature. You only get the ordinary heat capacity of the water + additives. | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 15:26 | comment | added | bdsl | and if the steel cube was at -87°C then it would probably freeze some or all of the drink, which is probably not desirable. The cube filled with ice at -18 or so probably won't freeze any of the drink, but will cool the drink as a whole to the same extent. | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 14:16 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @phflack Steel conducts heat better than plastic, so steel-coated ice cubes will absorb heat energy faster, cooling the drink faster. But it would cool fastest with just ice, since there would be no extra layer at all to conduct heat through. Steel is a decent choice for an ice cube container, but it's really just a container that holds the melted ice and prevents the drink from being diluted - any extra layer will actually slow the drink being cooled (although the choice of steel minimizes this effect). | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 11:47 | comment | added | Austin Hemmelgarn | @lutz For an example application, try looking up ‘whiskey stones’ (though those are traditionally just solid stone). There are some drinks that people will not tolerate being diluted with water from melting ice, but do not inherently care about being as cold as they would be with ice. | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 11:47 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | (But I do enjoy Tech. Connections videos) | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 11:46 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | @NeilBartlett: I was into latent heat before it was cool. | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 10:31 | comment | added | Neil Bartlett | "The magic of [latent heat]"... do I detect another Technology Connections fan? | |
| Oct 19, 2021 at 10:28 | comment | added | phflack | @Javier I think the question is more about liquid filled steel cube vs liquid filled plastic cube, "how does steel cubes compare to plastic cubes filled with water", which I suspect steel would be better due to thermal transfer? | |
| Oct 18, 2021 at 21:49 | comment | added | Javier | @ludz The point of these cubes is to get the cooling effect from the melting of the ice while not diluting your drink with the melted ice (water). | |
| Oct 18, 2021 at 21:33 | comment | added | ludz | Good point! So what is the reason for steel cubes used for cooling drinks? Steel conducts the heat faster than water and having water inside makes it cool longer compared to if it were just a solid cube of steel. So there is a wanted trade off here I suppose? Or maybe the only reason is that they look more cool (pun intended). | |
| Oct 18, 2021 at 21:30 | vote | accept | ludz | ||
| Oct 18, 2021 at 19:34 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | @d_b: I dunno, I like my coffee really hot. | |
| Oct 18, 2021 at 19:33 | history | edited | Michael Seifert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 488 characters in body
|
| Oct 18, 2021 at 19:26 | comment | added | d_b | Well, steel does melt. But you probably want to avoid any beverage hot enough to melt steel. | |
| Oct 18, 2021 at 19:22 | history | answered | Michael Seifert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |