Quickly Chill a Canned Beverage (with SCIENCE)

In the following instructable, I'll show you how to quickly lower the temperature of a canned beverage using nothing but science!

We've all been there; hot, thirsty, craving a cold one. We rush to the kitchen and are cursed to discover the beverage we so lovingly purchased for later consumption was (gasp) LEFT ON THE COUNTER!

What to do, what to do.

1. You can drink it warm (blech!).

2. Drink something else.

3. put it in the fridge and wait, like, forever.....

4. Cool it in under 5 minute with my help.

If you choose #4, please read on.

FYI (Photograph by Todd White, My Shot)

Step 1: What You'll Need

Your beverage, of course.

A sturdy container.

Some ice.

Some water.

A little bit of salt.

Step 2: The Process

edit-The can was about 75 degrees when I started to cool it.-

The process is extremely simple.

Place your ice, salt, and water in your sturdy container. Put the beverage on top (on it's side).

Rotate the can in the ice for 3-5 minutes. Rinse off the salt water and enjoy.

Sit back and enjoy the bounty that science has provided for us.

Read on to understand why this works.

Step 3: Thermal Conduction

Heat and temperature are forms of energy. The transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature object to a lower temperature object, until both come to the same temperature where they have the same internal energy.

So, basically we are using the ice as a sort of heat sink. By rotating it, we are transferring the heat from the can into the ice. The reason we added salt to the ice and water, was to lower the freezing temperature of the liquid part of the solution. So simple!

By the way, there is an incredibly complicated mathematical equation to describe the process, but I, good sir, am no mathematician.

As always, thanks for reading!