A question for everyone.
January 4th, 2008 | by TJ |1. For the science types.
I left some 20 oz bottles of diet soda in my car last night. And I didn’t have any in the house. So I went like, 8 whole hours with no diet soda intake. Very eager to get to my diet soda this morning. It was very very very cold outside and I was sure it had frozen into diet slush in the night, but when I got in my car and grabbed one, it was still liquid. Yay! So I opened one up, took a sip, set it in the cupholder, looked away for a second, looked back, and all of a sudden it was all slush. What, may I ask, the hell?
2. For the married types.
What do you think about this Dear Prudence question? This is what single people wonder about, you know.
Dearest Prudence,
My wife and I have been married for a little over a year, and it’s been absolutely idyllic, except for one problem: Since we’ve wed, my wife has taken to belching and farting all the time. We dated for several years before we tied the knot, and I heard her pass gas only once. She turned beet red, laughed hysterically, and then cried out of embarrassment. I can’t believe how much she’s changed. Now she’s at the point of rippin’ ‘em several times a day without much acknowledgment at all. I’ve had several gentle discussions asking her to dismiss herself into other rooms, try to “keep the magic,” etc., but these have all been met with hostility and resentment. Not only that, but the problem only gets worse after we talk about it. It’s gotten to the point of severely impacting my sex drive. I would think she would understand; the one time I let one go, she got mad at me for killing the romance! Any suggestions?
You can see her answer here.
3. For the WoW people.
Why do I not see an influx of new warlocks in AC in response to our recruitment efforts!!
4. For the people who only come here to laugh at me.
Would you be interested to know that I did this again this morning? Ever since the last time, I’ve been extremely aware of what my hands are doing when I get out of the car in the morning, but I must have been distracted for a second today and let my guard down. You know, my guard. The one I use to protect me from my damn self. Anyone looking for a career change want to take over the job?
By Wildhermit on Jan 4, 2008
Maybe there was no room for the liquid to freeze? All the bottle room was taken up by your carbonated beverage of choice and air? Not sure. I am married and think the “dear TJ” letter is amusing.
I have a 70 lock, but cross faction cross server recruiting never works :)
I do not “laugh at you dear TJ” I laugh “with you” :)
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By The Soldier on Jan 4, 2008
^^^ almost but not quite. The liquid inside the bottle freezes from the inside to the outside. So you picked your bottle up, and watched the free liquid sloshing around an icy, slushy center. You took a sip, which took most of the free liquid that wasn’t frozen away from the icy core, thus exposing it to your observation. Now melt it with the white hot fury of your indignation.
-J
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By TJ on Jan 4, 2008
No no no, I am definitely 100% positive it was all liquid until I opened it. What I want to know is, what is it about opening it that made it suddenly go all ice? I mean, ALL ice. It wasn’t a little bit in the middle. I took a tiny sip and then the whole thing was slush in seconds.
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By Grimmtooth on Jan 4, 2008
1) Water under pressure is harder to freeze. Once opened, the pressure is relieved.
2) I had to check the date on that one. All I can say is this: RETURN FIRE! That is all.
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By Boffors on Jan 4, 2008
It is the release of the CO2 from the water, it raises the freezing point of the water and so the soda goes slushy once the bottle is open. See this video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/382767/instantly_freeze_soda/
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By Ego on Jan 4, 2008
People fart. And burp.
If I’m drinking a can of soda, and I feel the need to let out an epic belch of Beowulf proportions, I do. It feels good. And the hubby’s more than welcome to do the same.
If we fart, we fart. If it’s bad, we apologize, and if it’s REALLY bad, we leave the room*.
But people fart. And burp. Have some common courtesy when it comes to not going overboard, but don’t get your panties in a twist if your husband lets loose a rotten egg.
That’d be just as absurd as me requesting my own bathroom because I don’t want to acknowledge that he has to go “Number two”.
*snort*
Get rid of the double standard, and try not to be an utter slob, and that’s all anyone should ask.
* unless, of course, we’re in the middle of a raid. Some things are just more important, and I can heal with watery eyes if needs be.
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By BaldBilly on Jan 4, 2008
1.I was thinking something along the lines of Boffors comments.
2. My wife gives me a hard time if/when I let em loose so I give her the same. My daughter who is all of 5 thinks they are the funniest thing.
4. Very funny
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By kakalaki on Jan 4, 2008
Since I didn’t get here in time for #1, I’ll skip to #2.
#2. Something smells bad about this married couples situation. :) It is true and that I’ve heard it time and time again… people are on the best behavior when they are dating. Once they are married is when you truely know someone. I know the letter says my wife and I, but come on, the guy’s got to be the woman of the marriage. I mean unless she lets them rip in his face, I don’t see how men should, or even have the right to complain, for farting is what makes men, men! Plus, what in the heck is she doing to derail his sex drive! She must be lighting her farts or something. Also, being a human, I’m sure he’s picking the one time he farted during sex and she yells “You’re killing the romance” as an excuse to justify his claims. Sad sad sad.
#3. It was funny that when I first created my warlock when there were hardly any locks in existence. Then Blizzard followed the “MMORPG” rule of thumb that says “If nobody is playing a certain class, lets make them uber and more people will play them. So the lock was buffed up and people started see how good and easy they could be. So, as in all MMORPG, everyone created a “Flavor of the Month(s)” class…. locks! So you see more because they are so easy to play and such.
#4. It’s ok that you do these things TJ, I just don’t want to see you in the Darwin Awards anytime soon! :)
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By kakalaki on Jan 4, 2008
Darn the absence of being able to put blank lines and such! Darn you TJ!!!!
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By Sorosst on Jan 4, 2008
TJ
1. The laws of thermodynamics are an a subtle and arcane mystery.
2. That is the lamest and most childish nonsense I’ve heard all week. That dude should grow the hell up.
3. OMG newbz!
4. (And the real reason for #s 1-3). Last week my wife and I visited her brother and his family in Colorado (we live in MA). We woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight home on Monday. My BiL had loaned us the keys to his car, which we would then leave at the airport for him to pickup at his leisure. We were frantically trying to get to the airport on time but we couldn’t because the damned car wouldn’t start. I had just paid to charge the battery, change the oil, etc. earlier that week so I knew that it COULD run, it just obstinately REFUSED. I got a little heated – machinery that will not do as I command gets me somewhat worked up – and meanwhile my wife went to the house to wake her brother up so we could have him drive us in the other car. (We had to call the house, as we’d locked ourselves out…comedy of errors all around, ha-ha-ha). Come to find out, we couldn’t start the damn car because it WASN’T IN PARK. Nevermind that this is evidence of major issues with the car’s ignition, that is some stupid shit right there. I blame the wee hour.
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By Drambuie on Jan 4, 2008
1. Actually, you have a few things that could be going on with your soda. It is possible that you had a super cooled liquid that lacked a nucleation point for ice crystals to form. Then when you opened the bottle the jostling of it caused spontaneous crystal formation. The other, and more likely possibility, is the fact that release of a pressurized gas though an orifice lowers the temperature combined with the reduction of a solute in the soda brings the soda below its freezing point.
2. The answer to 1. explains why married women have cold butts and the consequent downstream effects.
3. How would I know that AC is actually more fun than all of my friends on my server?
4. Sorry, just started a new job.
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By Sorosst on Jan 4, 2008
After reading kakalaki’s comments, I’m pretty sure that dude with the easily-offended olfactory organs is a closet case.
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By Lynda on Jan 4, 2008
1) No idea. I guess someone else had an idea, though.
2) When we were dating, I told my husband that it’s a natural bodily function. It has been this way since, but sometimes I do wish he would leave the room. ;)
3) I just deleted my warlock and created a new one. I think it’s my 4th or 5th, but I never really had one that I liked how she looked, until now.
4) I probably would have done the same thing. I use to be really good about locking my keys in the car and/or leaving on the lights.
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By Bail on Jan 4, 2008
1. Magic
2. He should get a canary in a cage. And when she asks what it’s for, he can say “Just so I know when to start running”.
3. Most people haven’t perfected the “Facesmashkeyboard Technique” yet. (FYI, I’ve got a lock myself, so I know it’s an artform.
4. Does it include hazard pay?
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By Pablo on Jan 4, 2008
1. Others have answered it better than I
2. Ahhhhh, to be newlyweds, starting out on lifes grand adventure, together through thick and thin! Who am I kidding…she’ll cut the sex back to once or twice a month before long, start driving the good car to work, take over the remote control, ostracize all his friends and most of his family, start bitching about his job and how little money he makes and then he’ll WISH the only thing he had to complain about was her belching and farting. Actually, it may start to turn him on, because it reminds him of better days.
3. Devil’s advocate – what would you think of a fellow guildie that you had run with long enough to get geared past Kara, seemed to be a nice, loyal person – who then up and not only jumped guilds, but jumped servers?
4. TJ’s personal assistant? That’d be like herding cats.
just kidding TJ!
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By kakalaki on Jan 4, 2008
XD Soro
.
I used to work as a network admin/tech support before my current job as a programmer. One of the funniest cases I’ve had was when a women called and says that her monitor was black and the computer was busted. So, I walk over there and I look at the PC, power light is on… hmmm… I look at the monitor, power light is OFF… /lightbulb. Being the nice person I am, I pretend to fiddle with some cables in the back and then turn the monitor ON. “Oh, you fixed it! What was wrong?” I was polite and said “There was a loose cable in the back” because I wanted to save her the embarrassment. So, it happens to everyone.
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By Savistus on Jan 4, 2008
The addition of any substance to water lowers its freezing point from 32 degrees F to much lower depending on the amount of the substance introduced. So while in the car, the soda was colder than 32, but warmer than the new freezing point (water and soda stuffs). When you opened the bottle the major part of soda stuffs (carbonation) exited the bottle and made the soda more like water than before. This raised the freezing point of the soda enough to cause it to freeze immediately. I know a lot of other people have answered this question, but I like sciencey things and I love explaining sciencey things even more.
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By Krystofar on Jan 4, 2008
1) Grimmtooth touched on it when he mentioned “pressure”. It’s ALL about pressure. The contents in any vessel will need room to change states (ie) from liquid to a solid in this case. Let me use an example many of you see often: At the risk of sounding all ‘Hank Hill’, I’ll use propane. Propane in your BBQ tank is a liquid, but your BBQ uses propane vapour. The propane in the tank remains liquid because it is under pressure. Propane boils at -42F. I know that’s might be hard to wrap your head around, but that is the case. Once you open your valve, pressure is relieved and the propane has the room it needs to begin boiling and changing state.
The same goes for your soda. It is under pressure… a surprisingly high amount of pressure (did you know they leave a little space at the top of the bottle to stop it from exploding?) Anyhoo
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By Savistus on Jan 4, 2008
Another thing I’ve noticed about the whole water freezing bit…
I’ve had a bottle of water freeze before opening it. It was liquid when I pulled it out of the fridge…my catlike agility failed me and it fell to the floor. As I pick it up, ice cube! different science and different answer, but still interesting none the less (at least to me)
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By Drambuie on Jan 4, 2008
@Krystofar
The transition of liquid propane to gaseous propane on the surface contradicts the argument that increased pressure should cause a solid to melt. This actually has to do with the vapor pressure of the substance and not its freezing point.
However, you are correct that increasing the pressure does generally lower the freezing point of a substance. Theoretically you could put a can of solid soda under enough pressure to melt it. The problem with this is that it takes 4800 psi to lower the freezing point of water (soda) 2.5 degrees. It is very unlikely that Coke would risk putting that much pressure in an aluminum can or plastic bottle.
Pure substances have higher freezing points that mixtures. This is one of the reasons why you can store your vodka in the freezer without it freezing. It is also the reason we pour salt on ice to melt it. The salt screws with the hydrogen bonds in the water and causes it to melt at a lower temperature. So the super cooled soda once opened has less stuff in it making it purer and raising its melting point and there is the evaporative cooling due to the release and expansion of the CO2. Or it could be just like this cool video: http://www.maniacworld.com/water-at-triple-point.html
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By Dammerung on Jan 4, 2008
1. Your science has already been rocked by better posters than me. My thought was that the bottle was well insulated to keep it cool in hot places like Texas and the isulation kept it from freezing.(I was wrong).
2. In my short experiance with Beowulfa when she refuses to give in about small annoying things its because I’ve been doing something that has frustrated/angered her. I think the guy is freaking out about the add-aggro when he just gained Illidan agro.
3. I’m not level 70 yet, my warlock is ugly, my shaman got Windfury.
4. I didn’t follow the link cus I suck.
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By sonvar on Jan 4, 2008
For #3
Why in the world would you want to play a warlock? j/k
My guess is that people who play warlocks are currently happy on the servers they’re on. And that most of your readers play Hunters.
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By Kinzlayer on Jan 4, 2008
#1 I’m way too late to that party so mums the word.
#2 That guy should be happy that his wife is comfortable enough to fart and belch in his present… it’s sad when ppl gets all stupid about that stuff, it’s natural.
#3 Kinzlayer would love to raid with AC but he only turns into a gnome with those machine thing during xmas. Other times he just kills alliance gankers. BTW, gnomes are CUTE!!! I may just make myself a gnome on your server to tank Arthas for AC, hahahaha.
#4 You know I have a hard enough time watching myself to take on another responsibility.
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By Krystofar on Jan 4, 2008
@Drambuie
Sorry, I’m confused. I guess I wasn’t clear. The vapour pressure in the propane tank is a result of boiling. I probably shouldn’t have gone to that example. This was (finally) found on the Coca Cola website (http://www.cocacola.com) under “Ask Coca Cola”:
“We do not monitor the exact freezing temperatures of each of our products. However, our diet products freeze at a temperature similar to water, 32 degrees. Coca-Cola classic freezes at a slightly lower temperature, about 30 degrees. The pressure in an unopened bottle or can will cause the freezing point to be even lower. All diet beverages will freeze before their sugar counterparts. Sugars lower the freezing point of liquids. This means that the temperature must get lower than the normal freezing point of water before it freezes.”
Therefore relieving that pressure removes the lowered freezing temp which = mmmm frozen coke
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By Drambuie on Jan 4, 2008
@Kystofar
Absolutely, mmm coke slurpies! :) Coke is right that that pressure does lower the freezing point but I am pretty sure it is the colligative property of the dissolved CO2 in the liquid and not the actual pressure as it takes a tremendous amount to pressure to lower waters freezing point due to hydrogen bonding in liquid water. Theoretically you could figure it out by dissolving an equal amount (moles) of stuff (say sugar) in degassed and see if this depresses the freezing point more than the application of pressure to the degassed liquid (which should be incompressible). I have certainly been known to be wrong but either way it is a pretty cool phenomenon.
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By Kirk on Jan 4, 2008
Drambuie,
According to Coca Cola company, the freezing point of Coca Cola, unpressurized, is 30 degrees F. Under pressure it’s lower yet, though the company does not tell the actual temperature.
So yes, CO is part of it but the main thing is the pressure.
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By Ratshag on Jan 4, 2008
1) Pressure and CO2 both is contributors, but since me specialty ain’t thermodynamics but rathers hitting things with me axe, I cannot say which is the greater factor.
2) Bugger should be glad she don’t eat my dragonbreath chili.
3) All the ‘locks on Team Ratshag is hordies, and is therefore subject to discrimination.
4) Sounds like a good job fer an underemplyed tank. Might need ta stack more avoidance first, though.
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By Euripedes on Jan 5, 2008
The idea of a man being insulted by farts and belchs puts me into hysterics.
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By The Soldier on Jan 5, 2008
My science got pwned.
I phayle.
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By Track on Jan 5, 2008
1) I don’t know. Next question.
2) She needs to lay off gassy foods. Beans, beans, good for your heart… Beans, beans, GREAT for your heart!
3) I’m sorry, I was too busy eating gnomes and teabagging your dead dwarven allies to level an Alliance ‘lock to 70… though since they’re more EZ mode than Hunters, I’d think it’d take the same amount of time.
4) No, for one reason – It’d be like the blind leading the blind…through a minefield.
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By Drambuie on Jan 5, 2008
Kirk,
I know what the Coca Cola company says but looking at the phase diagram for water and the effect of pressure on the freezing point of water from the CRC Handbook (see my second post, it takes 4800 psi to drop the freezing point of water 2.5 C) and the fact that the bottles can withstand a maximum of 175 psi (according to the Coca Cola website) sort of negates the possibility that pressure in and of itself is the main contributor to the lowering of the freezing point. More likely it is the pressure which increases the solubility of the CO2 and therefore the total amount of solute in the soda which lowers the freezing point of the soda significantly (I think you can get about 0.5 moles of CO2 into a liter of water at 0C. Not sure since my chemistry book is at work and I had to use the constants in my head.)
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By malficent on Jan 6, 2008
1. Shit happens
2. get over it
3. because they know that they are in good hand with TJ
4. Shit happens.
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By Susan on Jan 6, 2008
OK I don’t necessarily come here to laugh as you but I must admit the keys thing is rather funny. I say here chuckling to myself the whole time I read the “first time” story. Needless to say the better half looked at me rather strangely more than one. Oh well. Thanks for the laugh and as always a very entertaining read.
Here is just a hint on the locking your keys in the car thing. Use the key fob ONLY to lock the doors, never that oh so easy to hit button on the arm rest. Call it a lesson learned. :)
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By Chorius on Jan 8, 2008
I have to agree with Drambuie, the main reason it didn’t freeze until after it was opened was the CO2, not the pressure. The pressure factors in by preventing the CO2 from coming out of solution, but the pressure alone could not change the freezing point. I got my degree in physics not chemistry, but yeah, the colligawhachamever properties… :)
So Coca Cola is correct, but for the wrong reason.
The soda was below freezing before the bottle was opened, then once the CO2 had a chance to escape the freezing point of the solution(coke) rose above it’s current temperature.
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