Open the can of beer, and wait for the liquid butane to become butane gas and float away. Do not smoke nearby. Now drink can of very well chilled beer.-- vincevincevince, Jan 08 2008 NY Times Article http://query.nytime...A25752C0A96F948260#Men jailed in 1989 for mass chill deception. [Condiment, Jan 08 2008] Self chilling beer can http://www.gizmag.com/go/3136/ [MisterQED, Jan 08 2008] Or, if you're into gas abuse, inhale deeply and either pass out in a haze or die due to frozen lungs.
Butane is also heavier than air so after a few you might well have a layer of butane at ground level. Drop your cigarette and BOOM!
Perhaps you could substitute this with a less volatile gas?-- webfishrune, Jan 08 2008 Kind of baked, see (link), though they didn't use butane and didn't vent the vapor out of the can.-- MisterQED, Jan 08 2008 It's not just for breakfast anymore... I like it[+]. Methane also works as it IS lighter than air. Skip the FDA approval and sell it as a gastrointestinal supplement with no proven medical benefits.-- CoolSolutions, Jan 08 2008 //Perhaps you could substitute this with a less volatile gas?// It has to be volatile or it won't work. What you mean is a less combustible gas.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 08 2008 [webfishrune] - I bow to your superior level of gas expertise. I think the concept holds for anything which is a gas at around room temperature. I think that for best results however it should not mix much with water whilst in a liquid state - is there such a gas which will float on water like oil when liquid?
[MisterQED] - that's a much more complex solution, but good nevertheless. I wonder whether that would cost more than the necessarily thicker walls my idea would demand.-- vincevincevince, Jan 09 2008 I'll almost guarantee you don't need significantly thicker walls, especially with a PET type plastic bottle, which is vastly stronger than an aluminium can.
Just think, yor lighter holds liquid Butane, and it's only fairly thin, acryllic type plastic.
I worry about the density and/or miscibility of butane in your beer. If it's denser and nonmiscible, depending on heat transfer it'll either bubble away as planned or explosively force most of the drink out the top. Ditto for if it's miscible. Think pepsi+mentos.
This is rediculously easy to test, at home. If I remember to try it tonight, I'll let you know how it goes - I should have all the required gear on hand. I'll just check what the vapour pressure of butane is first, knowing that a PET bottle is good for ~200PSI at room temperature, with a good margin of safety.-- Custardguts, Jan 09 2008 As for the less combustible gas option, try one of the halons (or some other chloro/fluoro hydrocarbons) ie freon, R22, other refrigerant gasses. Most of 'em are fire supressant, supposedly nontoxic except as a smothering agent, totally nonmiscible in water, and have pretty good heat capacities - different ones are more/less suitable for different temperature and pressure ranges.
Screw the ozone layer, I want my beer superchilled, damnit.-- Custardguts, Jan 09 2008 Might beer, already having lots of gas dissolved in it, resist dissolving the coolant gas as it expands?-- vincevincevince, Jan 09 2008 super-carbonated beer; toss enough CO2 under enough pressure that it forms dry-ice in your beer... really gotta watch pulling the tab, though. Or a solar-powered beercan... longer it sits in the sun the colder it gets.-- FlyingToaster, Jan 09 2008 There is the possibility of an alcohol based evaporation chiller, however you'd need a larger, porous container (ie. terra cotta) around the beverage (in a non-porous container) and sand (or similar substance) as substrate for the alcohol.-- Spacecoyote, Jan 09 2008 [FlyingToaster] That's it! super-carbonated beer fire extinguisher. A safety beverage served with halfbaked alaska.-- CoolSolutions, Jan 09 2008 Wouldn't this get classed as munitions?-- DenholmRicshaw, Jan 09 2008 [UB] //Natural selection// why? I suspect only a small quantity of liquid coolant would need to be present as a can isn't very large and we only want to drop it by about 20-30 degrees.-- vincevincevince, Jan 09 2008 I remember reading about a similar idea (with a CO2 coil) in OMNI magazine when I was a kid. I think global warming killed that one.-- nomocrow, Jan 09 2008 random, halfbakery