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so, this is just a really wild, out of left field type of idea. but, after watching a clip from i've had sitting around from an episode of MythBusters i had an idea for something that could make a really fun contest at DefCon. just tossing it out there to see what others think, it's doubtful that it could be pulled together for inclusion this year (but who knows, since the logistics would be really really simple and it could attract some interest.)
anyway... the episode mentioned above was entitled "Cooling a Six-Pack." On it, the guys tested a variety of ways to take room-temperature beer and cool it down to proper drinking temperature (38º F, i believe to be the benchmark they shot for) very quickly.
After getting a series of control values (beer in a fridge, a freezer, ice, ice+water, and ice+water+salt) they tried to make their own contraptions. Adam created a rather poor, leaky ice-vat type affair through which passed a copper tube.
Jamie, on the other hand, primed rolled metal sheeting by submerging it in Liquid Nitrogen, then dropped it in the beer to act as a heat sink
Neither of their devices worked particularly well. And i'd be willing to bet that DefCon attendees could put their considerable tech talents (and their even more considerable disposition for chilled alcohol) to the task and come up with some pretty righteous ideas. (i'm imagining rigs of stacked peltier coolers. hell, if we can come up with new and remarkable ways to cool overclocked AMD processors this shouldn't be a massively difficult undertaking.)
Maybe i could run this as an unoffical contest poolside sometime if there is enough interest. Participants will be tasked with taking a beer at ambient temperature (which ouside in vegas could potentially be really really hot) and doing their best to get it down to 38º F. It could be run as either a "who can get beer the coldest in under a minute" or a "who can get to 38º F the fastest" type of event. Maybe i'll wrangle some more swag prizes as giveaways to the winners.
If we were to do something like this, i'll bet there'd be no shortage of bystanders... after all, we'd have to have volunteers to drink all the beer after it goes through the devices and is measured.
What do people think?
P.S. - i'm reencoding that MythBusters video clip to a smaller size so that i can stick it online somewhere for people to see if they want. it's actually a REALLY neat example of how, as Adam states in the program, "Science plus beer equals good!" I never realized that since adding salt to a cooler with ice and water -- thus lower the freezing temp in addition to melting some ice -- it makes for a great way to cool things down super fast.
anyway... the episode mentioned above was entitled "Cooling a Six-Pack." On it, the guys tested a variety of ways to take room-temperature beer and cool it down to proper drinking temperature (38º F, i believe to be the benchmark they shot for) very quickly.
After getting a series of control values (beer in a fridge, a freezer, ice, ice+water, and ice+water+salt) they tried to make their own contraptions. Adam created a rather poor, leaky ice-vat type affair through which passed a copper tube.
Jamie, on the other hand, primed rolled metal sheeting by submerging it in Liquid Nitrogen, then dropped it in the beer to act as a heat sink
Neither of their devices worked particularly well. And i'd be willing to bet that DefCon attendees could put their considerable tech talents (and their even more considerable disposition for chilled alcohol) to the task and come up with some pretty righteous ideas. (i'm imagining rigs of stacked peltier coolers. hell, if we can come up with new and remarkable ways to cool overclocked AMD processors this shouldn't be a massively difficult undertaking.)
Maybe i could run this as an unoffical contest poolside sometime if there is enough interest. Participants will be tasked with taking a beer at ambient temperature (which ouside in vegas could potentially be really really hot) and doing their best to get it down to 38º F. It could be run as either a "who can get beer the coldest in under a minute" or a "who can get to 38º F the fastest" type of event. Maybe i'll wrangle some more swag prizes as giveaways to the winners.
If we were to do something like this, i'll bet there'd be no shortage of bystanders... after all, we'd have to have volunteers to drink all the beer after it goes through the devices and is measured.
What do people think?
P.S. - i'm reencoding that MythBusters video clip to a smaller size so that i can stick it online somewhere for people to see if they want. it's actually a REALLY neat example of how, as Adam states in the program, "Science plus beer equals good!" I never realized that since adding salt to a cooler with ice and water -- thus lower the freezing temp in addition to melting some ice -- it makes for a great way to cool things down super fast.
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