Homely Scientist

Science of course.  Now, the fastest way, and absolutely not recommended, is to use a CO2 fire extinguisher and blast the can of pop.  That will chill it like nobodies business, but … let’s skip that one and try something a) safer and b) easier.  It’s as easy as ice, water and the magic ingredient … salt.

I saw this on a Mythbusters episode but LifeHacker just posted about it recently.  Truth be told, the Mythbusters episode chilled beer, not pop.  Regardless the principle here is the same.  Okay water will chill things, water is an awesome conductor of heat.  Okay add ice and it gets colder.  In fact ice water is colder than just plain ice (yep, it’s true).  The thing is speed, so how can you make ice water even colder … you need to lower the freezing point of water below 0C/32F.  Huh?  How?  Salt.  Notice how the ocean doesn’t freeze often, even in northern climate (Poles excluded)?  Ever wonder why you put salt on icy sidewalks to melt the snow?  Why you add salt to the ice when making ice cream?  All the same reason, salt lowers the freezing point of water several degrees.

So adding salt to the ice water makes it even colder that the freezing point of water and swirling the beverage of choice around lets the water take the heat out of the drink faster as well.

Now you’re ready for your next holiday party when you forgot to chill the bevvies.

Tags: chill drinks fast

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