Posts Tagged ‘coke’
Living Geek: Beer and Soda Super Cooler
I once heard that McDonalds’ coke is better than anyone else’s because they super-cool it. Deciding I wanted to try this at home, I created a super-cooler for beer and canned drinks. It works on the principles of conduction and freezing point depression.
Water freezes at 32F or 0C unless you add a solute (anything dissolved into the liquid). The solute (in this case table salt) disrupts crystal formation, thus making it harder for the water to freeze. With a solution you’ll need a temperature of several degrees lower than 32degrees in order to form those ice crystals.
Living Geek: Coke Straw Dispenser
This is really simple, but a great trick. When you put a straw in your soda, you may have noticed the straw always rises, making it really difficult to use. This is usually considered to be because of the carbonation bubbles attaching to the straw and lifting it.
You Are What You Eat?
We’ve all heard that phrase, and I think it was originally intended as a reminder to eat healthy. In my family, it’s used as a put-down (a good-natured one, but a put-down nonetheless.) But then I started looking at the things we eat, and I got to wondering. . .
I’ve had some of my kids’ friends ask why we don’t eat certain foods (like the cracker packs they sell for 50c at karate class.) After two years of graduate level biochemistry courses, my rule is this: if I can’t identify the ingredients, probably no one should be eating it!
Lately, though, I have been questioning even some of the things I can identify. I think a lot of us are familiar with this standard food used to get gum out of hair: peanut butter. Apparently, it’s just so greasy it breaks the gum right down and out it slides. Did you know you can make your dishes sparkle with a dash of lemon juice and then use that same lemon to remove stains from all matter of things? That is pretty common knowledge. Though it’s not a stretch to realize you can keep your hinges from squeaking with olive oil, you may be concerned to find that it also removes make-up and shines stainless steel.
I start to get worried when I see that vinegar will clean my house. It will make my glass clear and my surfaces shine. Lots of older people associate the smell of vinegar with cleanliness as it was apparently the cleaning agent of choice back before everyone had Windex and 409 in their closet. But when you add in that vinegar will also set dyes (like your easter eggs) and kill weeds (!) I start to wonder. What am I eating???
Don’t worry, the list gets even longer and more disturbing . . .
10 Essential Vitamins and Irony
It’s time for another photo blog! There is something special in the air when I find some irony. It’s all around if you just look for it. I have a few favorites here to share. ..
Do you know how excited I was when this product came out?
There’s nothing quite as awesome as thinking you should put vitamins into a soda. Honestly, gummy bear vitamins are a bit ironic in and of themselves, but we’ve gotten used to that. It’s the fact that it’s diet that makes it the best – the ingredients in soda and artificial sweeteners actually inhibit the proper absorption of most vitamins and minerals! Here’s to your health!
