Reusable handwarmers that get hot by freezing
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ค. 2024
- These things are so cool they're hot.
Here's some links.
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Hi! Through this video, we've apparently uncovered another one of those fun continental divides. It seems the reusable kind is quite common across Europe, and the disposable kind is almost unheard of! Wouldn't ya know. Since I assumed the situations were similar, I'll add that the most significant advantage of the oxidation-type is that they last _hours_ and not minutes. During the B-roll shooting, the handwarmer you saw me open was still nearly as hot as a freshly-opened one 4+ hours later! And these were very cheap.
It's through that lens that I made the judgment that the reusable kind are pretty meh - I'm simply accustomed to something that will reasonably last an entire workday. My take is that given the sustained heat output and fairly inert materials the disposable ones are likely roughly on-par to the reusable ones with regards to environmental costs, especially when you factor in energy spent to re-activate the reusable ones. But that's just my opinion! I hardly use these things at all, really, so I've got no skin in the game.
We got some of those yesterday here... Do you happen to have a camera in our flat?
I like that the reverse product (...which is an ice pack you can wear, that warms up slowly) exists for cosplay. EZCooldown vests.
I had never heard of these products before! Cool vid!
That's not how they are used in Europe, I had one in my coat pocket today with busses delayed in winter they are nice... Our Public transport delays are often short.
Aren't there "electrical" rechargeable/power Bank connected ones that would be cheaper within a season too? If the job in question does not offer warmth.
we do have the disposable kind in Europe too, that's what we put inside the gloves when we go skiing
Used to shove these in my gloves for my walks to school as a small English child. Although pretty good for the journey there, you end up walking home with cold pebbles in your pocket.
wholesome
Glad to see you here 😊
Ayyy it’s the lads!!
Hi Gav n Dan
Do you still identify as a small English child? 😄
You can reuse the rust in the used "non-reusable" ones to make thermite, which of course, releases even more heat.
Which of course you shouldn't do at home, no matter how easy and fun it is *wink*
@@DragonBornish I once made thermite at school under supervision of my science teacher it was fun
VeryHotHands
@@Sh4quille0atmeal BurnedHands
Forbidden hand warmers
The blue is more squishy to be more bouncy and the orange is harder to be more slippy. Cave is truly a genius
johnson did it again
There's a weird message on the back of the package: NOT FOR USE ON THE MOON. Huh, wonder what that's about?
Those liquid hand warmers were a must have during my childhood. We used them everyday during winter. You’d used them straight from the pot on your way to school and then pop the metal coin on the way back home.
Very clever to use the initial heat for the first half of the journey.
Thats fucking brilliant
So, they stay "melted" all day until you pop the coin??
@@seymoarsalvage Yup!
@@seymoarsalvageI know this is late but they stay clear/ liquid for a long time (only tested this on a period of like 1 month) until you pop or bend the coin
My young son recently tried to “recharge” a HotHands in our microwave. Ten seconds later he learned an important lesson and I bought a new microwave.
that's interesting.... what happened? Did it vaporise/explode?
@@TheRailroad99 He pressed the 30-second express button, but I heard the commotion immediately and came running about 10 seconds in. It was sparking heavily and looked like lightning. It also made the whole house stink like burnt metal for a week.
@@TechStuff1 the little disk in it has the perfect size to generate a plasma inside of a microwave, that is probably what happened.
@@TheRailroad99 hot hands are the disposable ones, not the ones with the metal disk inside. I assume the rust reacted in the microwave because it's metallic...
It’s been years so I may be misremembering, but we had these reusable packs when I was a kid and I’m pretty sure we used to “thaw” them in the microwave!
Alec: "Don't buy these"
*more and more accumulate in front of Alec as the video progresses*
He said that because he already bought them all, apparently.
He wants it all to himself that's why.
"Don't buy these THEY ARE ALL MINEE MUAAA HAHAH"
help i cant stop buying them
its already too late for me
dont make the same mistake i did
dont buy these
Oh, so the rules don't apply to him.
I use this in the winter as a field researcher. The disposables are definitely better for actual heat, but an unusual perk of these is that they're 'waterproof' .The rust packs seem to get ruined if they get wet; which is a pretty common occurance in my line of work ^^;
Can you say more about your line of work if you don't mind? :)
Blink twice if you're a spy for the penguins.
@@c4nd31aHe's working at the Canadian Maple Syrup Strategic Reserve.. Yes, shouldn't we be more surprised if they didn't have one?
@@RP-hn1qcThats called a forest lol
@@user-so2fp8tz9o Strategic reserves are designed as a stopgap for a predetermined timeframe of complete production capacity interruptions. Below is a snippet from the official Canadian reserves website.
With a combined capacity of 133 million pounds (216,000 barrels), the three warehouses can hold the equivalent of 53 Olympic-sized swimming pools of maple syrup. At full capacity, it would represent a value of $400 Million.
My parents used to have one of these back in the '90s. We would used it to warm our hands after horseback riding in the winter. It was clear, and turned white when activated. I remember how they used to have to boil it on the stovetop after every use. I also remember how hard it got: not quite like a rock, but like certain plastics, maybe even PVC.
But tell the truth. The way they work is that each one has a magic wish-granting genie inside, whom we have enslaved and commanded to generate heat each time we squeeze the disk. It's a good thing you didn't cut one open to show us the liquid on its own, because you would have freed the genie, and he would surely have killed you.
When parents try to explain what they don't know:
Thats slavery. I wish the genie did escape
You're so funny I forgot to laugh
@@omgrapist Task failed successfully..?
Haha
Havent we been trough this? The spent single-use ones are not browner, they are oranger with just as little context.
ORANGE is NEON BROWN.
Nice throw back...
1 day ago? How?
@@1976kanthi the videos are shared via private youtube link to the patreon supporters before made public on youtube.
@@Robert_DROP_TABLE_students-- oh I see.
"Fortunately, I have scissors, and a propensity to ignore safety instructions."
Heck yes!
@Duke Hugh Johnson we... Have a club?! Yes!
@@JakHart do we get jackets?!
@@JanPeterson oh my gosh a check mark your verify
@@JanPeterson absolutely! And a lanyard!
heck? are you in kindergarten?
I have a pair of earmuffs with little pockets on the inside that each fit a small reusable warmer. I think it's actually a pretty clever use of them. They're in a fabric pouch so they're insulated from the outside air and aren't directly against my skin. And even once the warmers themselves stop generating heat, the earmuffs help to hold in the heat they did generate for longer. Great for walks on cold days!
wow, quite lovely
where are these magic ear muffs from?? hahh
@@katherineleigh. Oh gosh, I got them so long ago I have no idea lol. Brand name on the warmers is Aroma Home, though I would assume they're not the only brand that's made them
@@BriWhoSaysNi ahh i found them online!! they’re called “aroma home click and heat cosy ears”!! thank you haha :)
Coming from Germany , here nearly every kid knows these. I personally used them a lot on my way to school in the winter to warm the hands inside of my pockets. I think every second kid had a big set of them so they are very common here. I switched to the zippo hand warmers years ago and they are fantastic. I would really appreciate a video about there types of warmers fueld with lighter gasoline (yet not actually burning)
Europe does everything better. Living in the US fuckin sucks.
The marketing on zippo hand warmers is a bit misleading. While the fuel is not burning in the traditional sense, the same reaction between the fuel and oxygen to release heat is still occurring. The key is in the catalytic burner. Normally for the fuel to burn it has to be mixed with oxygen and brought up to a high enough temperature known as the flash point. Then the reaction proceeds giving off heat (some of which will be converted to light by thermal emissions, which we see as flame) bringing other fuel and oxygen around it up to the flash point in a continuous cycle. A catalyst is a material which reduces the energy barrier for a reaction to occur by some how participating without being consumed itself. Thus, at the surface of the catalyst, the flash point is reduced. By controlling available surface area of the catalyst and the available oxygen, the rate of the reaction can be severely reduced and held at temperatures below its normal flash point. Since the reaction is only occurring at the surface of the catalyst and at a much lower temperature (and likely more completely so that there is fewer particulate to incandesce), there is no flame to be observed. So in essence you are still burning the fuel, just not the way we're used to.
Sincerely,
a materials scientist
Growing up in the US we almost exclusively used the disposable type and never knew there was another option. The disposable type CRANK the heat and last for hours. We also used the Zippo type but I found them a bit cumbersome and sometimes got so hot you had to keep switching where you had them placed as it was uncomfortably hot. Sometimes that was a welcome situation.
These days all of these seem to be getting replaced by electric warmers that last a lot longer and can be easily toggled on and off. And they show the charge state as well. And they also function as a rechargeable power bank for your phone when needed.
@@4nlimited3dition_4n3d ive had all types and honestly yeah electric is the way to go. The list from best to worst would be:
1. Electric handwarmers
2. Zippo/fuel handwarmers
3. Disposable handwarmers
4. Reusable handwarmers
“Oh wait it’s rust! How iron-ic.” GET OUT
I love that it's become my job to write terrible jokes.
Except that's not irony, so it's not funny😎
did you see that the word "terrible" was in front of the word "jokes"?
@@TechnologyConnections I prefer to read every other word, gets you through a text twice as fast.
This joke was un-ferr(ous)
“It’s rust! How ironic!”
damn i missed this one, epic
Stealth pun!
Nice pun and i see you like angry birds also nice
Sometimes the puns you don't notice are the best ones BlargNaut
IRONic 🤣
These were a life saver in the Finnish winter during my conscription service. When standing for 3 hours in a frozen hole in the ground in the middle of the night in a blizzard with -25 celcius temperature, the little heat that these offered to warm my hands, face, rifle and anywhere else I desired, was very welcome.
These seem like something that would be particularly useful when camping. Your average campfire releases a LOT of heat because, you know, it's fire, so boiling them even for an extended period isn't an issue. You then have a portable heat source to use through out the day when you're away from your fire and have nothing else around for that purpose.
I was thinking the same thing. Especially if you're boiling drinking water already. Doesn't hurt to toss them in the pot and kill two birds with one stone?
when you klick the matal thingy the substance is like "oh right thats what i forgot"
Metal?
Cyber Sandbox Medal
This is a lovely comment! :D
"Oops, it seems I've forgotten to freeze over! Silly mistake, better late than never!"
click* metal*
"It got a *lot* browner" - no no no!
It got more "orange with context"...
Orange... but *_darker_*
"It got a lot more orange contextual".
This will haunt Alec for the rest of his life.
Brown is my favorite non-existent color
@@mincos_outon *laughs in Magenta*
At least in the winter, the "lost" heat from boiling goes to heat the house and the vapor takes some load off the humidifier.
And in the summer you probably aren’t using them anyway, so that seems fair!
You don’t even need to boil them, just boil some water, turn the stove off, put the warmers in, put on the lid and go away.
This is also why light bulbs aren't bad regarding energy efficiency in cold climates.
I think the instant heat is the best aspect of these. I want an emergency hot tub full of this stuff. I mean probably that's a poor idea but how cool would that look as it crystallized?!
Like a breaking bad crime scene
@@powertea1878 Except his assistant didn't use the plastic tubs. Next the acid dissolved the tub that it was poured into. It is one reason why sometimes it is critical to follow instructions. The acid was hydrofluoric acid and it is really nasty stuff. It etches glass even. It is found in some rust removers and I have used one of those. I have hard water and it leaves a heck of a stain behind that does not scrub away easily. The rust remover with that acid in it just cuts right through the stains. No it doesn't burn holes in the tub or at least it never did for me, mine is fiberglass with a gel coating. If you have a metal one with a porcelain enamel that the acid will damage it. It may even burn holes in it if it is left in there too long with rinsing it out.
itd be easier to recharge because you could just boil them in the hot tub
@@charleshines7282 ...?
@@mozarteanchaos Do you think you might know me?
"Fortunately, I have scissors and a propensity to ignore safety instructions."
"a not yet taken apart one"
That got a chuckle out of me too hehe :)
He runs with scissors as well.
@@Dreyno dammit... i was gun a say that
Don't we all?
"It's rust, how iron-ic" we are getting so much layers guys! Very nice
The pun police have been notified.
Please stop 😂
Why are the smartest people always with the most stupid sense of humor?
Can this technology be “scaled”?
@@eliasmg9144 dude, don’t lose your “ temper “
As a weekend camper, this is one of my nostalgic treasured items. I cook with a wood stove so boiling water for it is no issue. I warm up some water to keep me warm for the first few hours of sleep, and use this in the night if I wake up cold.
We had a couple of these when we were young. My sister and I loved them and took them to school in the winter. Would take them home and boil them to "recharge" them :)
"Don't do this at home."
Do it at a friend's home.
@tutacat Yes
You can't do it at a friends home because there's a pandemic as of right now.
You don't have a house because you burned it down while trying to kill your adoptive brother.
Need a friend.
Ratchet Gladiator lol
“Fortunately I have scissors and a propensity to disregard safety instructions”- my new life motto
It's been the story of my life!
My daughter said that I don't really take risks - she says I'm safe in my own way, I just "don't allow as much of a margin of safety as normal people". 😁
The scissors are really a state of mind.
@@tecc9999 I agree with that - just not when it would put others at risk (or my license/insurance rates)
I usually recharge my hand warmers when boiling some eggs for breakfast. Just get the eggs out and let the hand warmers continue to boil for a few more minutes. But thank you Alec for that introduction to non-reusable warmers. I thought they were just cheap and bad for the environment. But if all that's left is rust and a de-composable pouch, then it's probably worth a try.
I mixed up the eggs and hand warmers once. Never again
@@danielthecake8617You'll be alright, knew a friend who ate those pills that when exposed to water expands into a sponge dinosaur.. left him a bit constipated but it worked out in the end 💩
These are great if you work in a cold office or have a cold house. They're hot after you boil them, and again when you trigger them. And the boiling step works as a humidifier, which is often helpful in winter.
They're also great for cold-weather walks to/from your car, getting the mail, waiting for the train/bus, etc.
"I have scissors and a propensity to ignore safety instructions"
I need that on a shirt 🤣
"I have a screw driver and a propensity to ignore warranty voiding" could be another one...
"I have a lighter and a propensity to ignore BOOM, HELP ME CALL 911 NOW!!!"
"These are more of a novelty than a truly useful object" - Alec Technology Connections with like 15 hand warmers in front of him
"These are more of a novelty than a truly useful object" - Alec Technology Connections describing anything in his videos
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Except Sunbeam toasters. All hail Radiant Control!
@@davidshi451 Automatic beyond belief! Automatic beyond belief! Automatic beyond belief!
Every single european watching this video: "am I a joke for you?"
I love how they gradually accumulate during the video, as by reproducing.
I remember getting one of these as a kid. I was so excited trying to figure out exactly how the mechanism worked. Not many other things got me so enthused about science.
i was born in the 90s and my parents always had these!!! thank you for the blast from the past
As a matter of fact, "enthalpically smooth jazz" is indeed "fusion jazz", so...
r/angryupvote
I was expecting "latently smooth jazz"
"I have scissors and a propensity to ignore safety instructions." - best line of the internet today.
As a kid, when I tended to dismantle something, it usually involved screwdrivers
@@Krahazik Yea, when I was in college, screwdrivers often led to things getting dismantled too.
...
Oh wait, wrong screwdrivers.
Working in a refrigerated warehouse, loads of people use the HotHands and I see them crushed on the floor run over by lifts, and it always looked like coffee grounds to me, now I know what that is inside them, thanks!
Great video and thank you. I have bought the blue ones to demonstrate latent heat to some students. Brilliant training aid and thank you for the comprehensive explanation.
Fun fact: Zippo currently sells a refillable pocket warmer that uses zippo fluid as a fuel source. It uses a catalytic heater inside to allow it to burn without fire and the case has vent holes to draw in enough oxygen to keep it warm in its bag in your pocket for 6-12 hours depending on what size you get.
Just beware they do produce carbon monoxide, so best used where you have good ventilation. Outdoors open air only! Other than that they are really great.
Zippo has been making those for over 75 years you should see the early versions
I have one. They're excellent for skiing/snowshoeing. I keep it inside my coat
Zippo also makes battery hand warmers that can double as portable chargers.
@@WeneDog0628 yea but there's thousands of those wheres the fun in that vs a fucking mini furnace in your pocket
HEAT PUMP VIDEO CONFIRMED
THIS IS NOT A DRILL
Imagine having less than 100% efficiency
This comment was brought to you by the heat pump gang
Well, it's clearly the Pump!
FINALLY
Won't it just be the air-conditioning video in reverse?
@@randomnickify I think you mean compressor
I work in the film industry, and let me tell ya on cold rainy days, those disposable heating packs are an absolute MUST. I often get the larger ones that are about the size of a hand palm and use them in pairs to keep myself warm and they can get very warm, and last for a long time, sometimes upwards to even 12 hours. Certainly worth it.
What an informative video! I appreciate your thorough breakdown of everything! It was easy to understand and very helpful
When you said "I am a little rusty" I immediately knew that it was a pun.
And ironic lol
If you already knew the pun was a pun, your hands were warmed long ago... - Oma Desala
freezing to create heat. my mind is suitably blown
thermodynamics sure is mesmerizing, especially if you just learned it in university
You need to look up the Mpemba Effect. Fun story.
What. Everything heats up when it freezes, what do you mean??
A literal freeze burn
welcome to chemistry
Thank your for answering the random questions i ask myself throughout the day. Especially when i need to be focusing on a very important task.
In the winter they don't seem too bad. In the mornings you boil them and they retain that heat pretty well. When that heat is lost you can pop them for another decent bit of time.
Rest of his high school chemistry class: “We’ll never use this in real life.”
Alec starts TH-cam channel, makes his living from it.
How did you get verified? According to TH-cam you have 143 subs. It also says you’ve been here for 14 years- did the verification process used to be different?
Okay sorry just looked at your about page, now I don’t need to waste your time!
@@WilliamCooper2005 hahaha, apparently he gets asked that A LOT
@@eduazy yes. I can imagine. I was quite intrigued.
Interesting. Never knew that.
(The Check)
4:18 Opportunity to say "These, on the other hand" while holding the other hand warmer in the other hand LOST
So cool man! I’ve been obsessed with watching these things for years…i just collect the used ones and then boil them all together at once! Also, that Fringe reference alone earned you a new subs!!
2:10 - "Open, rupture or tear". Well, they didn't say 'cut', so I think you're in the clear.
"I'll be Frank"
Only if I can be Suzan.
Don’t call me Shirley
"I'm gonna be Frank"
"...okay, can I still be Garth?"
Surely you can't be serious!
Sounds filthy
Well, alright, but can I still be me?
Thank you for this video you are first on TH-cam to explain these I bought these few months back and never saw them before I couldn't understand how they worked.
I used these when I was a busker - you don’t appreciate just how much less dexterous you are in the cold till you try play a guitar. The quick jolt of high heat was perfect given that you can’t really wear gloves while playing guitar.
Though eventually I discovered the wonder of the fingerless glove.
The Zippo catalytic hand warmers are the best I've tried.
USB hand warmers are also okay. Especially the ones that can plug into a powerbank for extended runtime.
My dad uses the catalytic ones, and I just got myself a pair of them yesterday. Best hand warmers on the market, period.
I just use my phone. It usually does the job when I run multiple apps at the same time.
@@Spuffiy building a hand warmer app should be simple. I’ll bet there is such a thing
@@rcpmac viruses
@@rcpmac simply run the antutu benchmark lol i already did this once, it works pretty well but the only problem is that the battery gets down REALLY fast
As a paperboy in 1964-65, I used a Jon-E hand warmer. Fill it up with lighter fluid [remember that], then heat the element with a flame of some sort. I had the larger one which would run for a couple of hours. Stash it in your hoodie pouch and warmth for the entire paper route.
Love your videos! Straight forward, to the point, some deadpan comedy for the nerds, and also very well paced.
Praises aside, I completely agree with you conclusions on the warmers. I bought some recently at the end of a running packet pick up show and we were not told that the packs needed to be boiled to reset when we purchased them, and this has been so annoying that we are going to return them ASAP and just use the disposable ones.
1:33 “It’s rust! How *iron*ic”
I was looking for that comment
omega pun intended
@@PikaGamingPikaVlogshallo indeed
My fam uses these for hiking when it's snowing on mountain peaks. I use the non-reusable ones but it's a brand that actually does say you can open it once it's used as the contents can be tipped on the garden and the pouch is compostable. Woot.
whats the name of the brand?
That’s awesome!
I was hoping that some of those could be used in the garden. When he said they can contain vermiculite and activated charcoal, I instantly thought of gardening because I use both those when working with plants.
I could see how the rust might cause some issues if the soil is already too acidic, but mostly would be fine for those with normal or alkaline ph soils.
I was wondering about these for so long!!
I was so confused by what was happening here.
Thanks my man.
The Reusable ones are really common in Germany! I have never encountered a one-time-use heat pad!
Best thing about this channel is I can watch a long, overly complicated video about the weirdest things and enjoy every minute of it
Overly complicated? Have you even finished school?
@@MrSebastiniposaunini Idk if you have already but I can assure you no science class of mine taught this, not even chemistry, she wasn't a very hands on visualization type of teacher...
Me who doesn't understand anything he's saying but still watching it: "i like your funny words magic man"
Why
I think he explained it in a rather simple way
@@user-ur4ob3qt1e hillbilly my dude
My brain dead self watching the video: *(my pfp)*
"Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedys."
)
exactly the thorough explanation and high quality video i was looking for. Thank you
I feel really bad for the people who froze this thing and burned their hands on it. A moment of silence for them.
"I am going to show you something cool. Actually it is hot"
-Every dad ever
As a dad, I approve this message.
...Pop-Tarts?
"IT'S NOT POP-TARTS!"
I remember when I was young inquiring about how these ultimately wear out: eventually the metal piece will break and it becomes very hard to use.
My caveman instinct wonders if slamming them hard against a table or something is enough to trigger the freezing
@@EksNiHil0 it is.
@@EksNiHil0 yes, but your mom gets really mad after you break it open on attempt number 3
@@averagejoey2000 can you flick it?
@@imthemistermaster You can! On occasion, these have activated in my bag, leaving me to wait for the bus in a colder state than I'm used to. All you need is a nucleation site of some kind and a quick, focused impact can provide this.
Last winter I worked outside. Those disposable hands warmers are FANTASTIC! Put one in each pocket, and you're good for a few hours. If your hands get cold, pop them in your pocket for a few min. 👍
What a fascinating reaction ! Thank you for sharing this with us, thoroughly enjoyed this video !
It comes down to how we interpret something as being "frozen" - a piece of solid steel can be considered to be frozen, molten steel. A rock is essentially frozen lava.
*Elsa enters chat*
@@roybiv7018 Let it snooooww!
Not really something being frozen means that it is solid when cooled below ambient temperature.
@@illuminadi7055
Would you say that ice can't be considered frozen water when it's put into a freezer whose ambient temperature is lower than or equal to the ice's temperature?
@@illuminadi7055 Freezing is the process of changing from a (usually) liquid to a solid. Ambient temperature is only relevant as a day to day reference point for humans because just like many other measurements do, our lives revolve around water.
Some people may know you as the toaster guy or the dishwasher guy, but it seems more like you're the latent heat guy these days
I'll take it!
He's the captions guy in my book.
He'll always be the Laserdisc Guy to me!
Latent Heat is the name of my bassoon and triangle reggae band.
@@mpbx3003 I got sucked in by LightScribe and subscribed after crawling to the VHS series.
I live in the middle of nowhere and go hiking/hunting a lot in the winter; These heat packs make wonderful emergency heaters when you can’t start a fire or are far from power.
This was the first video of yours I watched, and I keep coming back to it because it’s so soothing.
"Is that a handwarmer in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
Lmfao
They both get as hot and as stiff when activated too o.o
Both can result in sweaty balls
Can’t it be both? Ha
Handwarmee or warmed by hand?
As a former kid, I can promise you that if you have kids and have these things in the house your kids are going to play with them all the time and they aren't guaranteed to be ready when you want them to warm your hands. :)
As an *actual* kid, can confirm
my father had a big/green one of those, i was a small child back then. he was using it to treat his backpain by wrapping around his waist with a special corset(?). as a 5-6 years old child in early 90s, that thing was just pure magic for me and of course parents being aware of this situation ended up as "pure magic ice pocket that is hidden somewhere in the big living room" for me. of course i found it one day and tried to break the "ice" with wooden stool's feet. next time they boiled it, it didn't work because container was leaking i guess? to be honest i still don't know. i was just hiding in my room pretending i have no idea, about anything at all.
soooo yes... storing it as a solid is also not a good idea either. single-use ones are way to go!
I've just ordered one of these... A cheap one. I'm going to do an experiment with it to see if It will reset from the 85°c of engine coolant, which is sustained for 40 minutes and will be heated while the sodium acetate is still giving off its latent heat. If it works I might buy in bulk the chemical behind this reaction (sodium acetate trihydrate) to make a self resetting engine coolant heater.
I'll maybe do some experiments to see if I can make an electronic trigger if the self reset idea works just so I don't have to pop the bonnet and remove insulation to manually activate the heater.
This sounds interesting please update when theres more
Any temperature above its melting point will reset it with sufficient time. 85 C will take longer than boiling it because its a lower temperature, but 40 min will probably do it if you have good enough conduction. The determining factor is heat transfer into the system. A given mass of the material requires a fixed quantity of energy to melt. Ie, the time to fully melt will be reduced with exposure to higher temperatures, improving the energy transfer (in this case conduction) between your heat source and the sodium acetate trihydrate, or reducing the size of your system, thus reducing the energy needed to melt it.
I should also note that the solution will not give off heat above its melting point. Once at its melting point the solid and liquid are in equilibrium, and thus no reaction occurs. Once above its melting point the solid is now meta-stable and the liquid stable, so it will begin to melt and absorb heat. It is possible to super heat solids, but its much less common than super cooling liquids, and usually only occurs briefly if a material is heated very quickly.
Sincerely,
a materials scientist
I need to know how much you think cheap is. in Germany they cost around 1-2 Euro
I actually used them when I was younger in Winter. We had them for a long time, and didn't need to buy new ones. And they were always fun to have. I just put them in a hoodie pocket or so, and it was great
Fascinating! I've never heard of these before, much less the concept of something giving off heat as it "freezes".
Water also gives off heat as it freezes. The effect is used in orchards to prevent damage to the blooms during a late frost. You have a sprinkler system setup through out the orchard with fine mist heads. As long as the below zero temps don't last too long it will save the crop.
I believe that most substances actually give off heat as they cool because cooling is exothermic. When a system is cooled down, it loses energy that goes in to the surroundings. This causes the surroundings to increase in temperature.
@@bombmac5163 *It's probably the cooling-speed.* The handwarmers freeze almost instantly, making them feel hot to the touch.
It's not really surprising. It's exactly what your normal freezer does - it (forcefully) removes heat from whatever is inside it. Here the heat is expelled from the item.
@@Ryan6.022 Almost anything "gives off heat" as it freezes simply because it must be in an environment colder than itself to be liquid yet about to freeze. What you're referring to is that the air actually has to take quite a bit of energy from the water in order to freeze it. While this energy is removed, the temperature of the water stays exactly the same, at the freezing point. Basically you're adding "thermal mass" to the leaves so that they can resist freezing for longer, and also warming them with water that's much warmer than air.
"boiling them gets old fast" to be fair, you used like 300 of them so I can imagine that yes indeed that would be the case
Also if you aren't careful boiling them, you can melt the casing...as I did...oops.
@@NikkiTheOtter I would drop mine into the microwave and start off whit them hot and when they got chilled from being outside in my pockets that is when I would activate them , I did a lot of sub zero motorcycle riding in my younger days
I use up the 8 pack of the click heat ones within a day, not only that but i have to use one constantly because my hands get cold enough to turn purple.
@@tiny_rotty214 u might be better off with a rechargeable pair, they often come with adjustable heat settings + can be charged with a portable charger, enabling max heat for a longer time.
@@doctorwholover1012 zippo makes hand warmers that run on lighter fluid as well.
I had some of them when i was in elementary scool. It was quit cool to have one of those with you, when you had to walk in the winter to scool. That was almost 15 yeas ago so this technology isn't quit a new one.
These are perfect for wood stove users. I always have a huge pot of melted snow on my stove so after every use of this warmer i can just chuck it in the pot and forget about it. I might buy two to try em out. A reusable emergency heat pad just enough to keep you from fumbling.
Going through scouts as a kid, I was always told that the disposable warmers were bad for the environment and just wasteful. Though it probably would have been more wasteful to use the water and gas needed to reactivate these while camping. I just settled with not using anything and sticking my hands in my armpits when I needed to.
Yeah I don't really understand hand warmers when your body produces heat. There good for keeping fake pee warm tho
@@angryburnttoast Wait until you get older and your blood circulation starts to falter.. as it does in everyone.
Tho for disposable one ,if they come from across the sea in huge container ships (these are EXTREMELY polluting, a few of em dwarf the north american CO2 production from driving cars) they have a huge CO2 cost, and you alway gotta buy more. But with reusable one you only need to use some energy to boil em.
Yeah, there's actually a lot more complexity to this stuff than people think. Like how cotton tote bags use more energy to make than plastic ones. Better off just getting plastic reusable tote bags or using paper bags for your groceries.
@@datonecommieirongear2020 Stop spreading myths. A Panamax container ship travelling at 25 mph uses typically the same amount of fuel as merely few hundred SUVs.
"I'm doing it so you don't have to" ~ tagline of the entirety of the educational side of youtube
Nostalgia Critic has changed genre to physics? ^^
Isn't TH-cam _in general_ a play on this idea? "I'm doing this so you don't (because we know you want to)", "I'm doing this because you can't", "I'm doing this because it's cool and you didn't know you needed it before you saw my video" etc.
@@EgonFreeman it's entertainment in general lol
It’s highly likely that someone already mentioned this, but using the heat from boiling them is the cat’s jam; especially the midsized ones. (Probably the giant one too, I just don’t have one.)
Boil it in the winter and throw it in bed with you, or in a sleeping bag when camping.
It will be far too hot for bare skin for a long while, and several hours pass before you need to snap the little disc. A boiled midsized pack is good for heat all night.
It’s worth it just to have one around for when you or the little ones catch the flu or a cold and can’t get warm. Snuggle
Up with that thing and some soup…game changer.
1:33
"Oh it's rust. How ironic" 🤣 I had a breakdown. Well done 👏
"It's basically a packet of rocks and rust when it's used up, making it MOSTLY HARMLESS."
"I see what you did there." - Arthur Dent
"Bring water to a boil, add a used pad and keep simmering until pad is dissolved," coincidentally, is how vampires make soup.
Tampon tea
cursed comment
to venture where no jokes have ventured before; godspeed
🤢
Ewww...
All the reusable hand warmers I’ve had work better than the traditional ones. Spending once is a lot less expensive than buying a million bags of the throwaway ones. Plus the throwaway ones take forever to heat up / you have to constantly shake them. The reusable ones heat up immediately and don’t need anything else once you pop the metal. I have spent many, many hours outside in below freezing weather lol (:
When they start to become cool, you knead them to get the remaining heat because it’s stored in the center (aka everything cools from the outside but the center is still warm). Lifehack! =)
In the U.S. in late 2020 I was living in my car and this helped me stay warm in the winter, lovely
Started to get a NileRed vibe a few minutes in, and now I wanna see him make his own re-useable hand warmers.
Knowing nile red, he's gonna turn it into something that can be consumed.
@@ernestjorda2777 yeah
I've been saying these two need to collab on something for AGES
@@ernestjorda2777 I think the reusable ones use sodium acetate - the chemical flavouring added to "salt and vinegar" flavoured pringles/chips/crisps.... so eating probably isn't out of the question
Oh and don't forget that he'll "lose" probably 1/4 of the whole volume during the transfers 🤣
10:16
"No luck with the portal."
I think he was playing portal.
ye cool to imagine alec playing games and giving commentary and critique to it
Orange and blue? Portals? Definitely.
I absolutely loved the Portal reference.
@@tieran2009 I enjoyed it, but the portals in portal are clearly intra-dimensional, not inter-dimensional.
@@lucasatwell6846 Profile picture checks out. Also, I thought the same thing!
The way the line of "fortunately, i have scisors" was delivered has got to be my favorite part so far 2:10
My family always kept a few of these around for winter for when us kids were sent out to wait for the bus stop. Incredibly useful and served us well for those cold mornings. But not something id imagine would have much use outside of something like that or maybe hicking
The Portal reference hit me harder than a used up orange reusable handwarmer.
same
Was a lovely touch wasn't it
If Aperture tried to make a reusable handwarmer, they'd end up making shampoo
I had these as a kid. They were freaking magic, and even today I find them amazing.
What's even better is that the freezing point of sodium acetate trihydrate is about 58 degrees Celsius (135 F or so), which is hot but not too hot to handle-most folks will drop something once it gets above 60 C/140 F.
Key point there is "trihydrate". Sodium acetate with the water driven off it melts at 324 C/over 600 F.
@@SimuLord Toasty.
They frickin are
@@SimuLord Nilered did a video on bath salts, which were apparently almost 50% water. He extracted most of it, which was pretty cool.
Now I kind of want to see those rust-based hand warmers in a pure oxygen environment, or activated by sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide or something. See if we can get it to get so hot it melts. Then add some aluminum powder and see if we can make some self-activating thermite.
When I read "kid" I remembered that these are used (as a disposable) as infant foot warmers.
I finally understand latent heat! Thank you so much!!
10:07 portal reference! Rewatching this and I never noticed it the first time
From a longevity perspective, I got one of these over 12 years as promotional item from Guinness. I quickly came to the same conclusion as you have (massively inefficient and overly cumbersome to recharge) so it has lived buried in a drawer for the past twelve years. But after boiling it for 12 minutes, it still came back to life. Massive heat for the first minute and then hot for the next 5 minutes, the tepid going forward. So at least they do last for a long time with their limited usability...
The one time the reusables really appealed to me was at a LARP in the middle of winter, where we had a constant campfire going, so we could stick a pot of water on it and leave that boiling basically all day to keep rotating communal handwarmers
That's actually brilliant
What a great idea, thinking along those lines, it’d be perfect for winter camping too. Definitely keeping that one in mind.
I do see the need for them especially in pain relief like you were saying, and for those cold walks to work and you don't wanna throw em all away. Its cool, I like the effort, and it could lead to more discoveries.
Our four year old loves them. She is in an forest kindergarten and in case she has cold hands it really helps warming them up enough to go on playing. We reheat them all in one go and usually use already preheated water … rest from the kettle or from cooking eggs.
"I have scissors and a propensity to ignore safety instructions" is now my favorite quote!